Ramblin' with Roger

So many of the events of the past eight months in the United States have been, to my mind, clearly unconstitutional, though, to be accurate, some problems existed well before that. I thought I’d wade through the founding document.

But before that, from August: The Library of Congress Website Deleted Part of the Constitution That He Doesn’t Like. Now They’re Calling It a ‘Coding Error’. For instance: “Section 9, which focuses on the limitations of Congress’ authority, notably includes a clause that Congress cannot suspend habeas corpus — which grants everyone in custody the right to challenge their detention in court — unless necessary for safety in moments of “rebellion or invasion.” The White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, told reporters in May that the administration is ‘actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus.”

In the beginning

Preamble: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…

Justice for whom? Massive pardons belie that. ICE raids terrorize people. The rich will get richer with the OBBB. EPA has slashed clean air and water protections. NIH-funded cancer trials have been canceled mid-cycle. Cybersecurity experts have been fired, leaving data unprotected.

Article I, Section 2: The actual Enumeration shall be made…  within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. 

The Texas plan and other gerrymandering are part of the Massive Fraud that’s tearing America apart. As Heather Cox Richardson noted, and anyone who has worked in the State Daa Center (I have) knows, “Taking an accurate [national] census suddenly is also not remotely possible. Setting one up takes most of the decade between them and costs close to $15 billion. Census officials are already working on the 2030 census.

Article I, Section 7: Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it…

The DOGE cuts are unconstitutional. In February, “Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08), alongside a delegation of congressional Democrats, delivered remarks outside the USAID headquarters in D.C. amidst attempts by President Trump and Elon Musk to shut down the nation’s top humanitarian aid agency.

Graft

Article I, Section 9: No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

There’s that “free” airplane someone received, which will cost a billion dollars to retrofit. Plus so much quid pro quo that I can’t keep track. But the issue is not new. Before djt’s first term, a piece on his “Dangerous, Unprecedented, and Unconstitutional Conflicts of Interest.”

Article II, Section 4: The President… shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors

A third impeachment is not going to happen, but he is profiting from his office like no one else in my lifetime.

Tariffs

Article I Section 8: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises…To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization…To declare War

The unilateral tariffs by FOTUS are bogus. Threats by the FOTUS to “unnaturalize” someone are an affront. Congress has ceded the responsibility to declare war for decades.

Amendment I (1791): Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yet all of these have been abridged this century. HCR wrote in August: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a video in which Christian nationalist pastors express their opposition to the idea of women voting. ‘I would like to see this nation being a Christian nation, and I would like this world to be a Christian world,’ said Christian nationalist Doug Wilson. In his repost of the video, Hegseth wrote, ‘All of Christ for All of Life.'”

Amendment II (1791): A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Access to assault weapons is NOT a “well-regulated militia.”

Amendment XXII (1951): Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. 

No, he CAN’T run in 2028 for President OR Vice-President. He said “he would ‘probably not’ seek a third term in office, despite expressing interest and citing substantial poll numbers during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box” in August. It creates a cynical chance for him to sell merch. 

USA’s so-called PATRIOT Act

There is a 2004 film by Nonny de la Peña called Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties. It’s a documentary(69 minutes) that investigates how “the civil liberties of U.S. citizens and immigrants have been rolled back since 9/11/2001 and the passage of the Patriot Act.”

This video, a trailer for a 2012 documentary, also titled Unconstitutional,  notes similar concerns. “This… documentary reveals how paranoia, fear, and ethnic profiling have led to the subjugation of America’s constitutional rights. Made for a theatrical release by Hollywood director Robert Greenwald, ‘Unconstitutional’ exposes how the Patriot Act, made to defend America, is actually leaving it more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks.”

What would you add to the list?

Not incidentally, it’s Constitution Day in America.