US Supreme Court

Difficult, Challenging Year Ahead In 2024!

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America is facing the likelihood that 2024 will be the most tumultuous year imaginable, as the nation faces the following:

A Presidential Election in November where the likelihood is that we will have the first time since 1888 (Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison), that a former President (Donald Trump) is challenging the sitting President (Joe Biden).

A Supreme Court that seems hellbent on moving further to the Far Right on many constitutional matters, despite its tremendously low public opinion rating, making it the most right wing in a century.

A likelihood of new climate crises continuing, and unlikely that much will be done to deal with it, as many people around the nation and the world become victims.

A growing crisis on issues that divide the nation, including voting rights, abortion rights, gay and transgender rights, gun control, antisemitism, civil rights and ethnic and racial minorities, immigration reform, political chaos in Congress, and growing religious extremism, among others.

A world crisis of war in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, with the potential for greater US involvement, and the constantly growing threat of China, North Korea, Iran, and other autocracies, along with the Russian threat to the stability of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with the continuing war in Ukraine.

Momentous Time For Supreme Court With Colorado Court Banning Of Trump On 2024 Election Primary Ballot!

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The moment has arrived for the US Supreme Court to face a tough decision that will affect the Presidential Election of 2024.

Should they uphold the Colorado Supreme Court and agree to the banning of Donald Trump from the 2024 Primary Ballot, due to his involvement in setting up and inciting the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection?

The Colorado Court’s decision is based on the 14th Amendment Section 3, added to the Constitution after the Civil War, and seemingly appropriate to this blogger to be employed in this present situation!

If they do, that would open up other states also employing the same strategy through lawsuits to the state Supreme Courts.

Respected conservative experts agree that this is proper, including J. Michael Luttig, a retired Appeals Court Judge, who is highly regarded, and conservative attorney George Conway!

That would, effectively, undermine, and likely prevent Donald Trump from being able to win the Presidency, and effectively saving American democracy from the threat he represents to the Constitution and rule of law!

There is no way to forecast the result, but it could be a case as significant as US V Nixon in 1974, which led to the resignation of Richard Nixon from the Presidency!

A gut feeling that the Supreme Court will vote 7-2 to uphold the action of the Colorado Supreme Court, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in dissent, but with all three Trump appointees showing principle, guts, and courage, as three such Justices appointed by Richard Nixon did so in July 1974!

Abortion Rights And Attack On ObamaCare By Trump Helps Democrats

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Donald Trump bragging about the end of abortion rights, and his renewed attack on the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) are two issues that seem likely to insure that the Democrats and Joe Biden will have issues that will resonate with voters in the Presidential Election Of 2024.

About 40 million people benefit from ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion coverage available due to the Affordable Care Act.

Abortion being legal and available has been supported in Kansas, Vermont, Montana, Michigan, Kentucky, California and Ohio since the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and has galvanized those who believe in women’s rights and civil rights.

Abortion Rights Score A Big Victory In 2023 Elections!

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Abortion Rights won the day yesterday in the 2023 elections!

Ohio voters by 14 points agreed to put abortion rights into the state Constitution.

Virginia voters gave Democrats control of both houses of the state legislature, a blow to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who was promoting abortion restrictions to be put into state law.

Kentucky reelected Democratic Governor Andy Beshear who promoted abortion rights, which already had been supported earlier by citizen vote in 2022.

So now, 8 states have rejected the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V Wade, including

Kansas in August 2022

Vermont, Montana, Michigan, Kentucky, California in November 2022

Kentucky again yesterday, along with Ohio and Virginia

Religious people have a right to their views, but NOT to impose it on the entire population, and to dictate the reproductive lives of American women!

60th Anniversary Of Birmingham Church Bombing Which Killed Four Black Girls! :(

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The 60th Anniversary of the Birmingham, Alabama Church Bombing which killed four young black girls is being commemorated at a time when Republicans, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and many other Republicans, are trying to deny the truth of African American history.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and former Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones, who successfully prosecuted Ku Klux Klansmen four decades later who did the dastardly deed, commemorated the horrid events, and made clear that the truth and the reality of history cannot be suppressed because some people might feel disturbed.

Alabama was a center of racial violence and bloodshed six decades ago, and even now, the state legislature has refused to create legitimate congressional and state legislative districts to reflect that 28 percent of the state is black, and the federal courts have intervened.

Sadly, for much of the South, the old South of pre civil rights days has reared its ugly head again, with the difference being that in the past it was a segregationist Democratic South, and now it is a biased, racist Republican South!

The fight for civil rights and teaching of the truth of the past is a battle that cannot be abandoned, and must be pursued without pause!

The Ku Klux Klan Act Of 1871 Could Disqualify Donald Trump, Besides The 14th Amendment Section 3!

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The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, the third of a series of Enforcement Acts (1870-1871), enacted to deal with the terrorism and violence of the Ku Klux Klan in the South in the Reconstruction years after the Civil War, was promoted by President Ulysses S. Grant.

Now, more than 150 years later, it is being utilized as a factor in working to deny former President Donald Trump from being able to be on the ballot in multiple states for the Presidential Election of 2024, due to his incitement of the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection!

Many legal scholars contend that this legislation, designed to enforce the 14th Amendment, Section 3, dealing with rebellion and insurrection, is legitimate in the quest to prevent Trump from being able to run for President a third time.

Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court will get this case, and decide, and it is hoped that Chief Justice John Roberts and at least one other Republican appointment on the Court, and posibly more, will do the right thing, as it will affect their historical legacy if they do not take action!

60th Anniversary Of March On Washington: Need For Renewal Of That Effort!

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Today, 60 years after the famous March on Washington in 1963, and the legendary speech by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr. calling for justice and basic civil rights for African Americans and other discriminated groups, we are having a commitment to restore the civil rights that are under attack in recent years by the US Supreme Court, the Republican Party, and extreme right wing forces.

It is expected that about 100,000 people will participate in today’s commemoration in Washington, DC, as compared to the 250,000 who did so on August 28, 1963.

The struggle against forces that have taken away the right to vote requires a new national commitment to restoring the weakened Voting Rights Act of 1965.

And the open racism and nativism and misogyny promoted by Donald Trump and his minions must be fought tooth and nail through lawsuits, marches, and demonstrations against state governments that are limiting basic human rights, with Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama in the leadership of setting American rights and freedoms in the wrong direction!

Kamala Harris At 59, And Her Future Role In American Government!

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Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated her 59th birthday yesterday, and she is seen as a strong partner of President Joe Biden.

Constantly under attack by conservatives and Republicans, she has played the proper role of remaining in the background, not trying to take attention away from the President, which is the proper role for a Vice President.

But she has become more visible on the issues of abortion rights, civil rights, voting rights, gun safety reform, and the promotion of truth in education, including denouncing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promoting a distorted view of African American history and slavery, and also, his attack on the field of psychology and the teaching of gender and sexuality.

Harris speaks for those who are being attacked and abused, as the Supreme Court moves the nation backward on issues that were thought to be settled decades ago, but clearly are not resolved.

Harris is a very intelligent woman, with a career of being a prosecutor in San Francisco; Attorney General of California; and four years as a United States Senator!

She is superbly qualified to be President, if tragically, in the next five years, she was called upon to take the Presidential oath.

Hopefully, President Biden will win reelection and served capably, as he has so far, but the nation can be comfortable with the possibility of a succession, knowing this is a woman of compassion, decency, empathy, and sincerity.

Republican Presidential contender Nikki Haley has disgraced herself since she had courage as South Carolina Governor in 2015 to take down the Confederate flag after nine black churchgoers were slaughtered. She has lost all credibility, when she suggests that Joe Biden will die and Kamala Harris will be President in the next term, as if that would be the most horrendous thing possible, and it disqualifies Haley’s own Presidential ambitions.

One woman of Asian Indian ancestry feels a need to attack a woman of similar Asian Indian and Jamaican ancestry as unqualified, when clearly, Harris has far better credentials than Nikki Haley has ever demonstrated, particularly Haley’s bending to Donald Trump, and agreeing that if he is the nominee of the Republican Party in 2024, that she would support him!

Abortion Rights Win Support In Seven States Since Repeal Of Roe V Wade!

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Ever since Roe V Wade was repealed by the Supreme Court in June 2022 in the Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, seven states have seen voters choose to support abortion rights!

This is a winning issue for Democrats, and a massive losing proposition for Republicans!

Ohio is the most recent state to reject making it harder to promote citizenship rights, including abortion rights, which will be directly voted on in November in that state.

Previously, California, Vermont, and Michigan passed constitutional amendments guaranteeing the right to an abortion.

Also, Kentucky rejected amending the state constitution to prevent the right to an abortion.

And Kansas rejected an amendment of similar language.

And Montana voted NOT to prosecute medical workers involved in abortion care.

Realize that four of these states—Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, and Montana are Republican states, and Michigan was until the 2022 Midterm Elections when the Democrats gained massively.

So only California and Vermont were really Democratic controlled states.

So this is proof that by vast margins, Americans want abortion rights to be protected, despite the actions of Republicans and the Supreme Court!

Factors Favoring Democrats In 2024 Presidential Election

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The Democratic Party has several advantages going into the Presidential Election campaign of 2024.

Among them are:

Women in large percentages are outraged by the Supreme Court ending legal abortion protections on the federal level, and the actions by Republican state legislatures to prevent abortion rights further should favor Democrats in 2024, state and national levels.

African Americans are likely to continue to support Democrats with the new attack on “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”, including the words and actions of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but also the broad attack on civil rights by Republicans at all levels.

Young people, particularly those of Generation Z, born from 1997 onward, are strongly moving toward the Democrats.

College educated people are becoming more strongly Democratic across the nation.

Gays, lesbians, and transgender Americans clearly see the Republican attack on their basic civil rights as a dire threat.

Suburban voters have become more Democratic in recent elections, and are likely to continue in that vein.

Religion has declined rapidly, which also helps promote Democrats.

Supreme Court decisions have been highly unpopular, and helped to shift many voters toward Democrats.

The continuing danger of Donald Trump has motivated many voters to turn to the Democrats.

Joe Biden’s two and a half year record, arguably the best in domestic affairs since Lyndon B. Johnson, boosts his candidacy, including the economy which has been better under Biden than any earlier President at this point, and with the one problem, inflation, rapidly declining, but with unemployment at a more than 50 year low.

The biggest problem is the uncertainty of the Hispanic-Latino vote, particularly among Cuban Americans, and those from Nicaragua, and Venezuela heritage, but even among Mexican Americans who have become more skeptical about Democrats.

Also, elderly Americans are less Democratic than they have traditionally been, and the Trump support is about one third of the electorate.

The less educated whites are declining rapidly, but are still strong supporters of Republicans, because of racist tendencies.

So the election will be highly contestable, and some experts say the election will come down to four states—Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin!