One of the pithier explanations of the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment was written by Supreme Court Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. in a case titled United States v. Schwimmer. In that opinion, Holmes wrote that “if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”
Holmes was acknowledging the obvious: majorities don’t seek to censor popular opinions. They seek to suppress the “ideas we hate,” the beliefs and utterances that they find offensive.
That lesson–that rights are universal, and not reserved for people with whom we agree or people we consider part of our “tribes”–was one of the most difficult for my undergraduate students to learn. Surely the government can sanction people we know are lying! Surely the City Council can pass ordinances against material we consider smut! Surely religious liberty doesn’t mean that atheists and Satanists have the same rights as good Christians!
That pesky principle–that rights also apply to disfavored folks–was the subject of a recent article in the Washington Post,describing yet another aspect of Trump’s inability to grasp that simple concept, or the fact that people he hates (and boy, there are a lot of them!) are entitled to equal treatment under the law.
This particular evidence of Trump’s ignorance involved the pardon power.
As Biden prepared to leave the presidency, he had used that power to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal prisoners awaiting execution. He didn’t free them; the commutation meant that they will serve life in prison. The article reports that Trump “was outraged at this decision and set out to roll it back.”
Ironically, if Biden had pardoned the murderers altogether or had them released (which would have been constitutionally possible but politically scandalous), Trump couldn’t have done anything about it. But because they remain under life sentences, his administration can still influence their fates. It can’t lawfully kill them, but it can dictate the conditions of their confinement.
Our vicious President issued an executive order on his very first day back in office, declaring his intent to “ensure that these offenders are imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes.” The Justice Department that he has turned into a weapon he controls proceeded to implement the directive by sending those prisoners to the most isolating imprisonment possible — “a ‘supermax’ facility that cuts inmates off from most human contact.”
A number of the affected prisoners brought suit. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee in the District of Columbia, ruled that the transfer violated the Constitution’s guarantee of due process, at least in their cases.
As the article points out, It’s a decision that “cuts to the heart of the rule of law.”
Kelly’s opinion is on appeal, and given the unprecedented leeway granted to Trump by the Supreme Court, there’s no telling what the final outcome will be. But as the article points out, Trump’s effort to undo Biden’s clemency is a warning about Trump’s own flagrant misuse of the pardon power, including the threat that it might encourage future presidential successors to “reach for more boundary-pushing ways to get around past pardons.”
Trump has been nothing but “boundary-pushing.” Most pundits attribute that boundary-pushing–more properly labeled illegality–to Trump’s overwhelming desire for power, to the self-aggrandizement that he has displayed throughout his life. That explanation, however, assumes a degree of “knowingness”–a deliberate decision to ignore restraints that he doesn’t believe should apply to him.
I think that’s wrong.
If We the People have learned anything about this sad excuse for a human being, it is that he isn’t just mentally ill, isn’t just slipping into a senility that is getting harder and harder to ignore. He is also profoundly ignorant. He has consistently manifested a lack of understanding of–or even a basic familiarity with– the Constitution he took an oath to defend. He is quite clearly incapable of understanding the quote by Holmes with which I began this post, and if he did understand it, he would reject it.
What We the People have come to understand is the immense–and in many cases, irreversible– damage that can be done to a nation when it elevates a profoundly flawed, incompetent and thoroughly vicious man-child to a position of power.
And good Christians will say that “we must not judge others,” and “we must love our enemies,” and we must “forgive the sinners.” I hope most people understand who wrote these passages. 😉
The more you learn about Epstein and his gang, especially what they are hiding about the Zoro Ranch, the more you understand that there are actually EVIL people on this planet. Bibi Netanyahu is evil. We now know the codeword for a young target of pedophilia is “pizza.”
Trump is not a Christian, but he was touched by Christians as a “tool of divinity” sent to save America. Now, every single one of those scammers has Trump’s evil doings on their hands. There are lots of sociopaths in the world, but these folks are at the top of the list.
Not sure what percentage of Americans never even experience the justice system in their lifetimes. Most people don’t because their basic morality keeps them from doing things that they know are illegal. Trump’s ENTIRE life is at odds with morality AND the justice system.
I was counting the lawsuits Trump generated since his inauguration. I stopped at 400, which he accomplished in like 90 days or less. Not sure if it still exists, but Trump had his own Wikipedia page about his astronomical lawsuits. Every day or week that I read a summary of events happening in Washington, there are dozens of new lawsuits.
I’m sorry, but this person has absolutely no place near our nuclear codes, especially since he is owned by Bibi Netanyahu. Our oligarchy that bought the media uses it to normalize this behavior, but there is nothing normal about Trump and the “oligarchs” who control him.
400 + lawsuits … Didn’t Steve Bannon tell Trump to flood the zone with bullshit? Well, here’s the bullshit train in full action.
We also must remember that Trump’s brain is NOT rational in any way. He’s a flaming psychopath and his reality is defined by his constant lies and projections. There is no reasoning that stuff away.
Removal. Pick your method.
SCOTUS needs to set a precedent and reverse its own decision to give full immunity to the sitting convicted felon and rapist, Donald Trump, They are the tap root of all that is evil, wrong and deadly in this nation and globally; we have no actual government in America which has lost all democracy, Rule of Law and the Constitution and all Amendments. We are hated globally as much as Trump’s targeted middle east nations he is determined to destroy in the coming four or five weeks. He is reporting their losses but not ours.
What we have learned about the current administration in action was known before they swore their Oaths of Office but it was ignored and the millions who sat home NOT voting because they didn’t like their choices still do not understand that their one vote would have counted had they used it. They will sit at home again, scratching their asses, wondering what happened and waiting for change to come and save them from the administration they allowed to destroy 250 YEARS in only 13 MONTHS.
I am still waiting for a response to my request to the Indiana Democratic Party for a membership renewal. I have received, slipped under my front doormat, a flyer from Clif Marsiglio, a Democratic Senate hopeful, who lost his bids for Mayor and Lt. Governor. He lists his priorities to be Education, as an Activist, Advocate and Leader; my research found no information as to his involvement in any of those issues on any level. Is this what Indiana Democrats have to offer this year?
One of your best, Sheila. He doesn’t even know what respect and dignity are, let alone how to spell them. What if Iran decides to get rid of the leader of our country? Hmmm.
“Malignant Narcissist” says it all. that is not a formal diagnosis, but, once again, one that fit Hitler to a tee. There is no bottom, never will be, with this almost human, and with Bibi, and Putin, running the show for him we can only expect worse than we’ve already seen.
Todd described him properly, and the bit about “Trump is not a Christian, but he was touched by Christians as a ‘tool of divinity’ sent to save America,” is an good example of the way humans can fool themselves with the very myths they produce.
I sincerely hope that what we the people have understood, is understood well enough by enough people that we are able to rid ourselves of the spineless toadies in both the House and Senate.
VOTE