Congress approves bill barring any president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO
Congress approves bill barring any president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO
Congress has approved legislation that would prevent any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without approval from the Senate or an Act of Congress. The measure, spearheade…
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Ok, now pass one requiring the President to support and defend the Constitution, and to not be such an utter shithead.
I realize that second one is delusional when it comes to Trump.
My favorite part was how that was implied and held true by every fucking president.
And now we have to make shit explicit.
I mean, the President-elect must take the Oath of Office as stated in Article II, Section I , Clause 8 of the Constitution:
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: – “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”.
So it is on there. But it’s really just a pinky promise between you and a higher power. Whether that be a deity, the government, society/the social contract, or whatever.
There are two problems with this:
1, president Trump did not believe in a higher power than himself. He may present as Christian or even a twice-a-year Christian, but make no doubts, he saw himself as the highest power, answerable to no one
2, the president shouldn’t be answerable to no one. But the system of checks and balances is broken by a party-before-country half of Congress and a stacked and obviously biased and hyper-political Supreme Court (that has at least one seat stolen depending on how consistent you are in your beliefs. More if you think back to Bush v Gore…which is also why I hate people spouting for third parties. If half of the Florida Nader voters held their nose and voted for Gore, there wouldn’t have even been a question. Were their virtues worth the result that came of them? I say the same for the Bernie Bros who couldn’t hold their nose for HRC).
Democrats go after civil rights constantly and with impunity. Their presidents included
Next, remove the presidential pardon power.
Keep the pardon power, but, require approval from the senate on those selected to be pardoned.
Is there a legal argument being made that the oath of office is not a binding agreement?
I feel like that would lose in court….
Trump is arguing that he swore an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend" the constitution, not to "support" it.
Which is hilarious since those words describe the act of supporting it
His entire existence is a fucking meme
Bon chance with that argument….
It’s only one of Trump’s primary defenses for Jan 6th lately. Where have you been?
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-oath-support-constitution-colorado-insurrection-1847482
That didn’t hold water it seems: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/trump-colorado-ballot-14th-amendment.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
So it’s a non issue.
oof, finally good news on that front!
Let’s see how long it lasts. Hopefully that’s the end of the Colorado battle but you never know. The best thing that could happen is him appealing to the US Supreme Court and they affirm it, making it a national decision.
Still absurd that it was even an argument in the first place. The attorneys should be penalized for wasting time with stupidity.
True enough. Wish I had confidence in the Supreme Court.
Oaths are generally not legally binding. For instance, you can not swear to tell the truth in court and perjury is still a thing. The swearing in is just a formality.
Oaths are, as always, dependent upon the character of the person taking them and social consequences about breaking them.
Is there case law on that? I’m not aware of anyone that testifies before a court without being sworn in?
What I'm saying is not that you can opt not to swear in, but that there are ways to commit perjury even if you have not.
In my experience, anyone who takes the stand is sworn in, it's just a formality that is not the reason for perjury.
Sort of an "all dogs have 4 legs but not everything with 4 legs is a dog" thing.
I should hold off on posting until I make more sense
Edit: actually I'm full of shit, and you generally get charged with something lesser than perjury if you're not under oath.
If you give a false statement but you are not under oath or make false claims without knowledge or malice, your statement will likely not reach the level of perjury charges
Well that's it for me for a while lol
This site disagrees with you:
Only witnesses who make false statements under oath can be convicted of perjury, and they must also have intentionally misled the court. If you give a false statement but you are not under oath or make false claims without knowledge or malice, your statement will likely not reach the level of perjury charges.
Yeah I edited that in. Did not realize it was a lesser charge. Time to sit the next few plays out.
Hadn’t thought about this. If you refuse to swear an oath in court, can they find you in contempt? Or they just like ok, well we tried, let’s move on.
Pretty sure refusal would result in a contempt charge, because it turns out it is a major factor in actually charging you with perjury
So then not what you said earlier?
Yes, hence my edit.