Constitution, Shmontstitution.
The New York Times, whose editorial department (which is to say, the whole shebang) pretends to comment on our state of affairs while actually creating it, offered up this hairball in yesterday’s morning mailing:
Good morning. Democrats used to criticize the Supreme Court respectfully. Increasingly, they see the court as irredeemable.
Examples of Democrats’ new approach include:
“The problem is not that the Supreme Court is just conservative,” Representative Katie Porter said on the House floor. “The problem is that it is corrupt.”
“Each scandal uncovered, each norm broken, each precedent-shattering ruling delivered is a reminder that we must restore justice and balance to the rogue, radical Supreme Court,” Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said.
“The Supreme Court is a cesspool of corruption devastating our communities,” Representative Cori Bush of Missouri said.
“Creepy billionaires ran an ‘op’ to capture the court, just like 19th-century railroad barons would capture the railroad commission that set their rates,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said.
“This activist, extremist MAGA court faces a legitimacy crisis,” Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said. “And a legitimacy crisis for the court is a crisis for our democratic republic.”
“Corrupt.” “Rogue.” “Radical.” “Cesspool.” “Creepy billionaires.” “Extremist.” “MAGA.”
And, at the end, “a legitimacy crisis.”
Sure as the sun, President Joeb I, The Dodderer put forth the notion that the Fourteenth Amendment gives him unilateral authority to ignore the nation’s debt ceiling and continue to borrow in order to service the existing debt.
That there’s no real danger of default, barring a willful act by the Executive, is something that almost no one cares to mention. Monthly federal tax receipts far exceed the money needed to make good on current debt obligations. The gag, as always, is "Washington Monument Syndrome,” where, instead of cutting into the bullshit spending that soaks up way too much money, high-visibility cuts are threatened in order to scare the public into yelling at their representatives that “yes, borrow more and spend more!”
The GOP, which won the House this past election (“Elections have consequences” — B. H. Obama), is trying to get some (likely minuscule) concessions on spending and other matters out of the White House in the negotiation toward the inevitable increasing of the debt ceiling (again). Biden and the Dems, apparently again cowed and bullied by Bernie, AOC, and the rest of the socialists, now seem to think that a game of “chicken” is the best approach to this bit, and sure as the sun shines, the legacy media is carrying their water.
This 14th Amendment excuse that Biden is proposing is laughable. If true, it implies that the Constitution’s “power of the purse,” invested solely in the House, isn’t, and that the king President stands unfettered.
The conflation of Court denigration and this debt ceiling bit lies in the likelihood that the Court would tell Joe “no.” That saying “no” is the Court’s job, that it’s not supposed to be subordinate to the White House (or more accurately the Democratic Party), and that it’s not supposed to bend with public opinion are realities that the folks at the Times choose to ignore.
Our government is rapidly devolving to the equivalent of monarchical rule, and that’s how the Left appears to want it. The notion that limits on political power are written into the fabric of the nation is alien to them, and they’re doing everything they can to destroy those limits in practice.
Thus, the long campaign to delegitimize the Court in the court of public opinion. It’s a precursor to packing that court with rubber stampers and undoing the intolerable affront of Trump appointing three justices.
Big-government types don’t have much use for a Constitution that tells them “no, you can’t.” Since that’s its core, that means that the Constitution itself, along with its enforcement mechanism (the Supreme Court), must be reduced to “paper tiger” status, so that it can be ignored.
This is at the core of all you see going on in progressive politics today. And, when the Constitution is finally nullified, the real fun will begin.
Forget horseshoes and hand grenades, this isn't close - this is spot on!
I am curious as to "how" he would raise the debt ceiling - by Executive Order? If he did, then the Congress would request an emergency appeal to SCOTUS, who would likely grant it - this clearly usurping Article I. The Court would argue legitimately that the Treasury must continue to honor all debt service (ironically, in compliance with 14A). About half the government could operate on what's left over after debt service - so the other half would have to shut down. Thus there's no "debt crisis" looming, just another shut down standoff. Which I like. It's the ONLY power the Congress has at this point.