Republicans are all about states controlling their elections. That’s how they justify purging eligible Democratic voters from the rolls in Georgia or removing polling stations from Black neighborhoods in Texas. State control of elections is always good so long as those states are doing things right. As in extreme right.
But when states weigh the law and make a decision that is more concerned about following the Constitution than pleasing the Heritage Foundation, Republicans know what to do: Get the Supreme Court to put a big federal boot down on uppity states.
Now that Donald Trump has been removed from the ballot in Colorado and Maine, Republicans are incensed. They don’t just want the court to rule that those states must put Trump back on the ballot; they’re also introducing legislation to ensure that more states don’t try to apply the 14th Amendment—by making the Supreme Court the only arbiter of what constitutes an insurrection.
As USA Today reports, Sen. Thom Tillis is hoping to stop other states from disqualifying Trump. To that end, he has introduced a bill to punish states that “misuse” the 14th Amendment by taking away federal election funding. Tillis’ explanation of his action includes all the buzzwords you might expect.
“Regardless of whether you support or oppose former President Donald Trump,” Tillis wrote in a press release Tuesday, “it is outrageous to see left-wing activists make a mockery of our political system by scheming with partisan state officials and pressuring judges to remove him from the ballot.”
The case in Colorado was primarily brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, one of the most effective watchdog organizations for … responsibility and ethics. Understandably, Tillis would see that as left-wing, as neither of those principles have much support on the right.
Tillis’ bill hopes to amend the Help America Vote Act by adding language that awards the Supreme Court with “sole jurisdiction to decide claims arising out of section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
Clearly, Tillis would not make this move unless he was sure this court would determine that the events that made him flee the Senate chambers on Jan. 6, 2021, were not an insurrection, but just a bit of misguided frivolity. Considering the role that the wife of one of the justices played in those events, that’s probably not a bad bet.
And there’s always the chance that Republicans could use this bill to do more than simply keep Trump on the ballot. Republicans like Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft have threatened to remove President Joe Biden from the ballot, saying that Vice President Kamala Harris supporting those who protested the police murder of George Floyd, or Biden allowing “an invasion” at the southern border, could classify as insurrections.
It seems unlikely that even this court would give the insurrection stamp to actions clearly within normal boundaries. But then … this court has made some novel decisions.
However, before the Supreme Court can take over the role of insurrection-spotter, Tillis’s legislation has to pass in time to make a difference. This seems very unlikely, considering that Tillis has just five Republican co-sponsors and hasn’t yet made the official text available. The odds of his bill escaping the Senate are low, especially with Democrats, who control the Senate, unlikely to hand even more power to the deeply conservative court.
Even if it somehow passed, it’s unclear how Congress could carve away responsibilities that belong to the states, and hand them over to the Supreme Court without requiring a constitutional amendment. But since in this case, the power would be flowing toward the people who get to decide what’s constitutional, maybe that wouldn’t be an issue.
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But when states weigh the law and make a decision that is more concerned about following the Constitution than pleasing the Heritage Foundation, Republicans know what to do: Get the Supreme Court to put a big federal boot down on uppity states.
Now that Donald Trump has been removed from the ballot in Colorado and Maine, Republicans are incensed. They don’t just want the court to rule that those states must put Trump back on the ballot; they’re also introducing legislation to ensure that more states don’t try to apply the 14th Amendment—by making the Supreme Court the only arbiter of what constitutes an insurrection.
As USA Today reports, Sen. Thom Tillis is hoping to stop other states from disqualifying Trump. To that end, he has introduced a bill to punish states that “misuse” the 14th Amendment by taking away federal election funding. Tillis’ explanation of his action includes all the buzzwords you might expect.
“Regardless of whether you support or oppose former President Donald Trump,” Tillis wrote in a press release Tuesday, “it is outrageous to see left-wing activists make a mockery of our political system by scheming with partisan state officials and pressuring judges to remove him from the ballot.”
The case in Colorado was primarily brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, one of the most effective watchdog organizations for … responsibility and ethics. Understandably, Tillis would see that as left-wing, as neither of those principles have much support on the right.
Tillis’ bill hopes to amend the Help America Vote Act by adding language that awards the Supreme Court with “sole jurisdiction to decide claims arising out of section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
Clearly, Tillis would not make this move unless he was sure this court would determine that the events that made him flee the Senate chambers on Jan. 6, 2021, were not an insurrection, but just a bit of misguided frivolity. Considering the role that the wife of one of the justices played in those events, that’s probably not a bad bet.
And there’s always the chance that Republicans could use this bill to do more than simply keep Trump on the ballot. Republicans like Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft have threatened to remove President Joe Biden from the ballot, saying that Vice President Kamala Harris supporting those who protested the police murder of George Floyd, or Biden allowing “an invasion” at the southern border, could classify as insurrections.
It seems unlikely that even this court would give the insurrection stamp to actions clearly within normal boundaries. But then … this court has made some novel decisions.
However, before the Supreme Court can take over the role of insurrection-spotter, Tillis’s legislation has to pass in time to make a difference. This seems very unlikely, considering that Tillis has just five Republican co-sponsors and hasn’t yet made the official text available. The odds of his bill escaping the Senate are low, especially with Democrats, who control the Senate, unlikely to hand even more power to the deeply conservative court.
Even if it somehow passed, it’s unclear how Congress could carve away responsibilities that belong to the states, and hand them over to the Supreme Court without requiring a constitutional amendment. But since in this case, the power would be flowing toward the people who get to decide what’s constitutional, maybe that wouldn’t be an issue.
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