“The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.” ~ Thomas Paine
The Freedom to Vote Act, Joe Manchin’s bill, died in the Senate last week. A Republican filibuster was the murder weapon.
Instead of handwringing, those who take the oath seriously must thwart those who do not. Therefore the President must send a message to Congress and “recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” (Article II, Section 3) Change the name of Manchin’s bill to the Consent of the Governed Act and remove the Photo ID provision, which advances the Republican lie about voter fraud. Pass the amended bill in the House on a roll call vote so the GOP can filibuster in the Senate again. Then produce a list of suspects and put out a WANTED poster of those responsible for its failure.
Meanwhile, Republican Governors and Legislatures have passed bills—in violation of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments—that deny or abridge the right to vote. But they had accomplices. The door was opened by the Chief Justice who gutted the guard outside, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Then, once in, Sam “The Stiletto” Alito did the same to Section 2.
Despite the fact that Congress has the power to pass legislation pursuant to the aforementioned amendments, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, and allowed Republican Governors and Legislatures to undermine “the primary right by which other rights are protected.” And that confirms a warning made over two centuries ago.
“(T)hough individual oppression may now and then proceed from the courts of justice, the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter; I mean so long as the judiciary remains truly distinct from both the Legislature and the Executive. …(L)iberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments; that as all the effects of such a union must ensue from a dependence of the former on the latter, notwithstanding a nominal and apparent separation….” (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 78; emphasis added)
Two dubious elections, in 2000 and 2016, made a 6-3 self-styled “conservative” majority possible. Thus, Bush the Younger appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Then the Chief Traitor appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. But President Obama appointed no one because of the McConnell Rule. For the Majority Leader said, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice"; and by making something up he denied a hearing and a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland.
The gentleman from Kentucky ran afoul of the Constitution, when his deed is compared to the words of one of the Framers in regard to “the nature of the agency of the Senate in the business of appointments.” For Alexander Hamilton contradicts the McConnell Rule: “There will, of course, be no exertion of CHOICE on the part of the Senate.” And Hamilton shows what the Majority Leader did was an abuse of power: “They might even entertain a preference to some other person, at the very moment they were assenting to the one proposed, because there might be no positive ground of opposition to him....” (The Federalist Papers, No. 66; emphasis added) Then, in 2020, the McConnell Rule was ignored when the Majority Leader did indeed “entertain a preference to some other person.” But the damage had already been done. And now there is “every thing to fear from… such a union…, notwithstanding a nominal and apparent separation….” After all, Justice Amy Coney Barrett paid homage to him at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center.
Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito chose to ignore a basic precept of Anglo-American law supported by William Blackstone, James Madison, and Chief Justice John Marshall—“Where there is a right, there is a remedy.” And now is the time to provide relief and stop those who are breaking the tablets.
In taking the oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” the President must then “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”; and the Constitution is “the supreme law of the land…any thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.” (Article II, Section 1, Clause 8; Article II, Section 3 & Article VI, Clause 2) According to Article IV, Section 4, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government....” It is clarified through brief remarks by James Madison. “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place....” (The Federalist Papers, No. 10) And that is another way of saying “the consent of the governed.” Therefore the Executive must go to a District Court to get cease and desist orders against States in violation and couple Article IV, Section 4 and Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The latter provides the means to enforce the former so that “the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of...citizens shall bear to the whole number of...citizens (eighteen) years of age in such State.” (Fourteenth Amendment, Section 2; the citation has been adjusted to reflect subsequent amendments that gave women the right to vote in all the States and that lowered the voting age to eighteen; emphasis added) Thus, the recalcitrant would have fewer members in the House.
Even if cease and desist orders are granted, the Executive must bring charges against Governors and legislators who have violated the Constitution’s voting rights provisions—the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments—and the statutes enacted to enforce them. For they are engaged in a conspiracy to deny or abridge the right to vote under color of law. (Title 18, Section 241 & 242 of the United States Code) Furthermore, their efforts are part of a conspiracy to defraud the United States of America in support of a rebellion or insurrection. (Title 18, Section 371 & Section 2383 of the United States Code)
The actions of the Republicans are the very definition of un-American. They love to talk about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But they ignore the part about governments “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Had the Founders done the same, the country’s birth certificate would have listed a stillborn.
Copyright 2021 Marvin D. Jones. All rights reserved.
http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-least-dangerousduring-good-behavior.html
[THE LEAST DANGEROUS…DURING GOOD BEHAVIOR]
[Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the McConnell Center]
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