Constitution

Trump Presses Georgia to overturn Election, but he should Remember what happened when Algeria, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and the other Georgia did That

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kristen Holmes and Victoria Stracqualursi at CNN report that Trump called up Georgia governor Brian Kemp and asked him to call a special session of the Republican-dominated state legislature and have them elect an alternative slate of electors for the Electoral College, so as to overturn the results of the […]

Bill of Rights

How Big Oil is Buying our Representatives to Criminalize Environmental Protests

Basav Sen

( Otherwords.org) – More communities are standing up to pipelines. The fossil fuel industry wants to make that a felony. By Basav Sen | December 2, 2020 A few years ago, massive protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock changed the popular narrative about what climate activism looked like. The protests made clear […]

Conspiracy Theories

Communists were jailed for Less: Trumpies call for overthrow of US Constitution

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Caitlin Dickson at Yahoo News reports that Trump supporters and Tea Partiers have begun calling for a suspension of the US constitution to prevent Joe Biden from taking office. The only way to parse “suspension” of the constitution is its temporary overthrow. Moreover, they are calling for the use of […]

Bill of Rights

How did Conservatives successfully smear “Liberal” (Respect for Liberty and Rights of Others) as Mule Word?

Bahman Fozouni

Sacramento (Special to Informed Comment) – The 2020 elections are over, but once again it proved that Liberal-bashing remains a favorite pastime of the Republican party and conservative politicians. Verbal assault on “liberal” politicians and the media, “liberalism,” and the root-word “liberal” by the political right (and occasionally by the hard left) has remained a […]

Bill of Rights

Presidents are Paid Public Servants, Not Aristocrats above the Law: Lessons from Rousseau, Jefferson and Tang China

Martin Powers

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment) – “Let the constitution of a government be what it will, if there is but one man in it exempt from the laws, all the other members must necessarily be at his discretion.” Perhaps we should thank Donald Trump for demonstrating the truth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s insight. No sooner […]

BDS

Pompeo’s attempt to Penalize Boycotters of Israel aims to Strengthen White Nationalism and Roll back Civil Rights

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Carol Morello and Steve Hendrix at the Washington Post report that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israeli squatters on Palestinian land in the West Bank on Thursday (well, that is my characterization, they didn’t put it that way). In a bid to please his evangelical constituency and potential Jewish […]

Bill of Rights

Roll up your Sleeves: It will take more than an Election to Restore American Democracy

John Feffer

The Four-Year Rule?

Congress

What if the outcome of the Presidential Election is Disputed? A Constitutional Scholar explains the Murk

The Conversation

By Richard Pildes | – As I’ve Zoom-traveled the country speaking about legal issues involving the election, I have found myself, as well as audiences, bewildered and frustrated by one underlying question: Why is there so much legal uncertainty about so many critical questions concerning the rules for resolving a disputed presidential election? If ever […]

Constitution

Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: What lies ahead could include a constitutional crisis over succession

The Conversation

By Stephanie Newbold | – Since Donald Trump was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment on October 2, there have been conflicting messages about the status of the president’s health. While his doctor, Sean Conley, gave an upbeat account around noon on Sunday, the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, […]