Tag: Constitution

The Supreme Court isn’t fooling me

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that states cannot remove Donald Trump from a ballot, “Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates”.

But the SCOTUS makes a major logic flaw in that statement. The 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution says in Section 3 that, “Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability”. The “disability” to which the amendment is referring is disqualification from holding the office of the President of the United States (or any other federal office, for that matter).

That is to say that Congress is only responsible for removing a disqualification from holding office, not for “enforcing” one, as the SCOTUS claims. If only Congress enforced a disqualification, the clause regarding a vote of two-thirds of Congress to remove the “disability” would be moot. Congress could only remove a disqualification from the ballot put in place by some other agent.

So you don’t fool me, SCOTUS. I see what you’re doing there.

Deputies will not protest the Constitution

The Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association has called on its deputies to protest against the Constitution of the USA. The president of deputies local 6020 Jeff Bell in an open letter appealed to “all members of law enforcement not to work any detail associated with the Miami Dolphins unless ordered to do so.”

Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association Local I.U.P.A. 6020 call for immediate suspension of Miami Dolphin details
Letter from Jeff Bell

How is this a protest against the Constitution of the USA? The reason Bell asks deputies to “refuse any security details associated with the Miami Dolphins” is because four Miami players kneeled during the national anthem before their game against the Seattle Seahawks the weekend before he wrote the letter. Refusing the security detail is an act of protest against what even Bell explicitly recognized as an “exercise [of] their constitutional right of freedom of speech.” This freedom that Bell wants the deputies to protest is guaranteed by Amendment I of the Constitution of the United States.

The irony is that it is the same amendment that gives deputies the right to form the labor union that Bell leads. The reason it was the first amendment our Founding Fathers added to the Bill of Rights is because King George III’s sheriffs would jail any of his subjects who publicly criticized his monarchy. If Bell wants to live in a country where the citizens are required to stand for their national anthem, he should move to North Korea. North Koreans are indefinitely imprisoned in hard labor camps if they protest the conditions in their country.

Bell goes on to say that “in certain professions, an individual’s freedom of speech must take a back seat to the organization or government entity that they choose to represent.” What gives Bell the authority to decide that NFL football player is one of those professions? The answer is nothing: in the USA, people of every profession have freedom of speech. Even his deputies can exercise this freedom as individuals, which is why they could decline a Miami Dolphins security detail if they wanted to.

Fortunately, the Broward Sheriff’s Office understood the absurdity of Bell’s request. It says the deputies will still work the Dolphins games despite the union’s request.