The US constitution is in peril. Civil and human rights are being trampled upon. The economy is in disarray.
At this rate, we will not make it through the second 100 days.
Federal judges in more than 120 cases so far have sought to stop Trump – judges appointed by Republicans as well as Democrats, some appointed by Trump himself – but the regime is either ignoring or appealing their orders. It has even arrested a municipal judge in Milwaukee amid a case involving an undocumented defendant.
Recently, Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III of the court of appeals for the fourth circuit – an eminent conservative Reagan appointee who is revered by the Federalist Society – issued a scathing rebuke to the Trump regime. In response to its assertion that it can abduct residents of the US and put them into foreign prisons without due process, Wilkinson wrote:
If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home? And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? The threat, even if not the actuality, would always be present, and the Executive’s obligation to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ would lose its meaning.
Thank you.
i should have clarified that i was referring to the current incarnation of the Constitution, what with the amendments and all. The inclusion of slavery at all is horrible. i like non-cruel prison labor; anyone who is sincerely remorseful would love the chance to atone, but the labor must be voluntary. Compulsory anything is counter to Love. Punishment of any kind is counter to Love.
If you were thinking of the Thirteenth Amendment, then my only defense is that the Thirteenth Amendment does not specifically condone prison slavery, either, that prison slavery is undefined behavior, that the undefined behavior can serve as a means of easing people away from slavery, that, even with the exception, the Thirteenth Amendment did serve as a step in the right direction. The exception may be a compromise for people who wanted slavery for unconvicted and convicted people, thereby starting the process of easing into an incarnation which is free of anything resembling an endorsement of slavery of any kind.
In any case, an amendment to forbid all slavery is definitely in order and is thoroughly consistent with my understanding of the spirit of the Constitution.
@Ferrous@lemmy.ml