Federal Election Consistency

 Our US Constitution states the following words in the 14th Amendment, Section 3, to whit:

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold an office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemiesthereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

Like any dutiful American who is fortunate enough to have some time to comprehend a Supreme Court live argument, I listened to one today. 

It’s not every day that we have the privilege of eavesdropping on decisions of such national importance. But thanks to Ben Meiselas on YouTube, I was able to drop in, aurally. I stumbled upon it suddenly. Unexpectedly, there it was.  Sounds of lawyerly arguments and Judicial questioning were intersecting with my brain waves as I retrieved my Constitution for reference. 

I will not attempt to explain what I heard, except that I did hear the voice of every Justice as they posed questions for the two lawyers.

As usual in this scenario, any comprehension of what I thought were the main issues was eclipsed by the complexity of legal fine points and references to previous Court decisions. 

When the Court concluded their session, Ben Meiselas returned on my laptop screen with a few comments, including his assessment that the Court would decide against  Colorado’s decision to remove trump from the ballot.

And I must say that I would, in that case, agree with the Court, even though I, and so many of us Americans are doing everything we can to keep trump out of the White House.

As an American citizen who takes every opportunity to vote in elections, I do believe that all of our States should have identical candidate choices in Federal elections. 

I fully agree with all my compatriots across the nation who are making every effort to see trump suffer extreme punishments for the insurrection that he provoked on January 6, 2021.

But I also believe that, in any election in which a President is being elected, the candidate choices should be the same in every state.

So, in that respect, a Supreme Court decision that assures consistency in all states’ ballots is of a higher order than other ballot considerations.

As for donald trump suffering the penalties of his crimes, that will have to be decided by the Judges and/or Juries who are hearing  prosecutions by Jack Smith, Fani Willis, Letitia James and their legal teams.

"Let Justice roll like the waters, and Righteousness like a mighty stream!" (saith the ancient biblical prophet, Amos)

Glass half-Full