America's Legitimacy Crisis—1
For CNN, I wrote about why the Colorado Supreme Court ruling is a terrible mistake
There’s no paywall on this one, so you can just click here to read my initial thoughts about what four out of seven judges on the Colorado Supreme Court have done with their move to disqualify Donald Trump from appearing on ballots in the state (and also blocking the Colorado secretary of state from counting write-ins for him).
I don’t use the phrase “legitimacy crisis” in this relatively short piece, but that’s really what I’m talking about. (The “1” in my headline here signals that I’ll be returning to that theme and elaborating on the point in a follow-up post in the coming weeks.) Donald Trump is both a symptom of this underlying crisis and an accelerant for it. But so is the attempt to find a legal remedy for what is fundamentally a political problem. For more on this theme, in the meantime, I recommend a short post by my friend and fellow Substacker Noah Millman and my brief exchange with Damir Marusic (and others) on Twitter/X.
Barring additional intervening big news, my next post will be a cultural recap of 2023. That will come next week on Tuesday or Wednesday. For those of my subscribers who celebrate, I wish you a very merry Christmas. See you on the other side of the holiday.
Thanks for your good work.
No argument the decision itself will unlikely change outcome, inflame Trump base and be a talking point to his tiresome "witch-hunt" powerpoint.
But it also has the same and opposite effect on opposition voters, fund raisers and Biden speech writers.
Taking it to the people is the only means, no doubt, but it’s a flawed argument that the law of the Constitution should not be tested when it speaks so plainly. The fact that the document lacks an explicit enforcement mechanism has been overcome many times before based on an equitable argument that every right implies a remedy. And yes, whether a court does so depends on its political makeup, not intellectual firepower, the Voting Rights Act being a prime example, with private actions formerly embraced, now abhorred.
I think the Colorado decision is meaningful because of the political composition of those who brought it, including a prominent Republican. It likely speaks to moderate Republicans and independents and,frankly, is a great example for history (our grandchildren) of a thoughtful effort to grapple both morally and legally with an existential issue, one far more morally important than even abortion, immigration, Foreign policy or which GOP candidate is the lesser of two weevils. Forgive the reference to Master and Commander.
It’s not a political problem. It’s a legal problem. He broke the law, he incited an attack on our Capitol and our Constitution. He refused to implement his sworn oath to protect US from domestic terrorists. This is not the time to be chicken or “soft on crime.” If the US Supreme Court gives him a pass, then and only then will this be a political problem. Americans will vote. Love will trump hate.