• RuBisCO@slrpnk.net
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    9 months ago

    Help me understand this.
    SCOTUS is saying states cannot determine who is and who is not insurrectionist enough to be off their ballots. Rather, it is Congress (the same Congress that acquitted a known insurrectionist) who is the sole judge of that.
    ???

    Obvious answers seem to be corruption and regulatory capture. But I’m trying to make sure I’m reading their opinion correctly. Is it not essentially, “States conduct elections as they see fit. No, wait, not like that!”

    • megopie@beehaw.org
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      9 months ago

      The case was about wether he could be removed from the ballot (having not actually been convicted for treason yet) but some of the judges used it as an opportunity to state that only congress could do that for federal elections. The case was pretty open and shut on the first part, not so much on the second.

      • RuBisCO@slrpnk.net
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        9 months ago

        Didn’t the Jan 6 Select Committee already recommend the DoJ should pursue criminal charges against 45 for his role in the insurrection? Now SCOTUS wants Congress to decide again?

        • megopie@beehaw.org
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          9 months ago

          Recommending that he be investigated for treason is not the same as him going to court and being convicted of it. That’s kind of the rub of the whole situation, removing a candidate from a ballot because they’ve been accused of treason is a really bad precedent to set.