Wei-Chi
Our democracy was in danger this month, our Constitution ignored by too many who should have known better, and our most prized institution frayed. Some in Pennsylvania tried to have the presidential election results overturned and allow the Legislature to appoint the Electors. The Supreme Court said no.[i] The Attorney General of Texas, joined by several other States Attorney’s General, with an amicus signed by over 100 members of Congress, tried to overthrow the election results of several states. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case because Texas had no standing to bring it in the first place. That decision was interesting because two Justices believed that the case should be heard, but at the same time they said they would not give relief, so it was also a unanimous ruling.[ii] The Electoral College votes today. In early January a joint session of Congress will count the votes and announce who will be our next President and Vice-President. Several members of the House indicated that they plan to challenge the votes of several states. The whip count likely doesn’t support such action, but it could cause a delay in the process.
Our
democracy is still in danger and our electoral process still on life support
because too many people believe that the November election was fraught with
fraud. Nearly 70% of Republicans continue to believe that the vote count was
irregular, the vote-counting machines were set to turn Trump votes into Biden
votes, or that some dead dictator from Venezuela had led a decade’s long
conspiracy to bring down the election process. Some meet in coffee shops to
discuss how their candidate’s election was stolen while others take to the
streets around the country to protest, flags waving and fists raised. The state
of Michigan closed all legislative offices today because of the credible threats
of violence toward Presidential Electors. All the while, every State certified
that there was no fraud; in many states, votes were counted three times, and
local, state, and federal courts ruled in nearly sixty cases that the Trump
campaign staff presented no evidence to substantiate claims of wrongdoing.
Twenty
years ago Al Gore, who won a plurality of votes nationwide, lost the presidency
when the Supreme Court ordered Florida to stop counting votes, resulting in
Bush receiving enough electoral votes to claim victory. Vice-President Gore
went on national television: “Let there
be no doubt: While I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it.
I accept the finality of this outcome…And tonight, for the sake of our unity as
a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. I also
accept my responsibility …to honor the new president-elect and … help him bring
Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of
Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends.” That
is what a nation expects from its leaders. That is what keeps the nation’s
ideals out of danger.
The
ultra-ultra right-wing reactionary news station Newsmax was beside itself when
the Court ruled against Texas, et al. On December 11, 2020, newsreader Emerald
Robinson complained, “The president put three Supreme Court justices on the
bench… yet none of those … were with the team.” It is dangerous for the country
when the Executive branch expects court nominees to be on its team, when in
fact the justices take an oath to support and defend the Constitution. But then
again, so did the President, the 100 plus members of Congress who signed an
amicus brief for the case, and the dozen or more State Attorneys General that
joined the Texas case. They put our Democracy at risk. They may have flirted
with sedition. The Chair of the GOP in Texas even suggested seceding from the
US because SCOTUS would not hear a case that had no standing in law. Power, Party, and Trump, for many people, are more important than the republic and its
institutions. The Wei is clear!
Danger
breeds opportunity to right wrongs. If one were to venture far out on a limb, or
even into a sidebar, they might suggest that schools review how they teach
Civics, how they teach about the Constitution, how they deal with our history,
even the not-so-good parts of it. This isn’t wanting to go back to the good old
days, but a search for how we instill a love of the democratic process at an
early age, how we bring people to support a political system that requires give
and take in discussion and compromise in legislating. It is a quest for an
appreciation for our institutions and their fragility.
There
is an opportunity for all of us to defuse the current crisis by lowering the
volume of our side of discussions. There simply is no significant evidence of a
stolen election. So let’s stop talking as if there was. Let’s all find a news
channel that is more middle-of-the-road than we normally watch. There is an opportunity for all of us to ignore the bad actors on the far left and the far
right. There is an opportunity to shut down (at least mentally) White extremists,
people like Proud Boys and QAnon. We can all do something, but the one who
could make the most of the opportunity is the President.
President
Trump can defuse the crisis by taking the opportunity to make a peaceful
transition, halting the childish machinations to which we are exposed. Many
people, 70 million or more, don’t like the fact that Trump lost the election
today when the Electoral College gave Biden more than the required 270 votes
to become the next president. The nation, its institutions, its democracy, and
its image to the world are much more important than one person. President Trump
has an opportunity to make things right. If he continues his sociopathic
behavior he will damage the nation, his legacy and we will no longer be the
shining city on the hill.
It
would be nice if we took this opportunity, the interregnum, to smooth a
transition to a new four years, a time for unification, for less division, for peaceful
activities that will make the world a better place. We have the opportunity to
seek our better angels.
Wei
or Chi, which will it be?
[i] Supreme Court of the United States – Tuesday, December
8, 2020 – Order in Pending Case – Kelly, Mike, ET AL. V. Pennsylvania, ET AL –
The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him
referred to the Court is denied.
[ii] Supreme Court of the United States – Friday, December
11, 2020 – Order in Pending case – Texas V. Pennsylvania, ET AL – The State of
Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of
standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a
judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts
its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot. Statement of
Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins: In my view, we do not have
discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls
within our original jurisdiction. See Arizona v. California, 589 U.S. _ (Feb.23,
2020) (Thomas, ]., dissenting). I would therefore grant the motion to file the
bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on
any other issue.
