The Last Functioning Branch of the US Government

This past week saw the much-anticipated decision of the US Supreme Court on the consolidated cases of local officials trying to disqualify and remove Donald Trump from the ballot.  Thankfully a unanimous US Supreme Court - 9-0 - upheld the law and common sense.

Officials from three states, Colorado, Maine and Illinois  - all Democrats - decided that Trump committed "Insurrection" in 2021, and therefore they had the power to strike his name from the ballot - and in the most extreme case in Colorado - strike the names of any candidate for Delegate to the Republican National Convention who was pledged to support him.

That theory - devised by law professor Lawrence Tribe and ex-judge turned lobbyist Michael Luttig - was crackpot from the start.

The "Insurrection" clause was included in the 14th Amendment to disqualify Confederate leaders who had fought the US Civil War.  A four-year war that saw 700,000 Americans killed, and over 4 million serve in the rival armies of the USA and CSA. A very specific idea of "Insurrection."

The Capitol Hill assault of January 6, 2021 was a violent, ugly riot. Full of vandalism, trespass and assault.  But there were no guns.  And only one person - an unarmed woman rioter shot in the head by police - was killed.

To equate a four-hour, gun-free riot to the US Civil War is a farce.  But for Democratic local officials to seize that absurdity and then try to cancel the election for the US Presidency shows how deep the rot has gone - and how shallow the adherence to the rules of democracy has become.

America is not the only country where the governing party tries to "disqualify" opposition political leaders: In Russia, Vladimir Putin just murdered his leading opponent, Alexei Navalny, after arresting and jailing him on fake charges. 

In Venezuela, the dictator Nicola Maduro just had his puppet Courts "disqualify" Maria Corina Machado, the presidential candidate of the united opposition parties, leaving Maduro unopposed.  And in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollahs' "Guardian Council" disqualifies candidates who are not fully supportive of their Islamist dictatorship.

With sloppy ideas like the "Tribe-Luttig" theory, and American local officials who laugh at the law and will seemingly do anything to seize power, America is sliding fast towards the banana republic dictatorships that kill, arrest or disqualify political opponents.      

A united US Supreme Court stood up for the rule of law this week.

But more crackpot legal theories are being spun from both parties every day.  How much longer can nine people stand up against a tidal wave of political and legal lunacy ?