For better or worse, the U.S. Supreme Court is holding all the cards this election year. Chief Justice John Roberts appears reluctant to have his court determine the outcome of the 2024 election. Yet our uncharted waters may ultimately force his hand.
Several legal cases are on the horizon, including former President Donald Trump's challenge to Maine's and Colorado's decisions to ban him from their states' ballots.
American voters are now consumed by courtroom dramas and legal tit for tats when they should be focused on more pressing issues. The fall election should be a battle for the direction of our nation, with two sides stating their respective cases. Instead, it has turned into an outright mess, with one side attempting to bar its chief opponent from even competing in the first place.
We should be discussing tangible issues, such as the economy. We should be debating solutions to inflation, as consumers grapple with $35 entrees, $6 coffees and worse.
People are also reading…
The political discourse should focus squarely on President Joe Biden and his economy. His approval rating recently hit a new low of 34%, according to a Monmouth University survey.
Americans have lost faith in Biden's ability to tackle the economy — to the extent they ever had faith in the first place. Most Americans don't believe their incomes have kept up with rising prices, yet the president continues to promote Bidenomics as some silver bullet.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson prepared to succeed John Adams as president of the United States. Four years earlier, George Washington had left office voluntarily, rejecting widespread appeals for him to serve a third term.
At the same time, the border crisis has never been worse, as undocumented immigrants flood into the United States, some bringing criminal activity with them. The December migrant surge at the border was the largest in more than two decades, with authorities encountering more than 225,000 migrants.
Where are the solutions to the immigration problem? Where is the accountability from the administration?
These questions are not being asked because of the partisan attempts to bar Trump from 2024 primary ballots.
Democrats have sought to undermine Trump ever since he announced his presidential candidacy in 2015, riddling him with false claims of “Russian collusion” and other nonsense. These latest legal proceedings targeting Trump are par for the course. They are the logical extension of a years-long push to vilify anything and everything Trump-related.
Trump and the American people are eager for closure on legal challenges to Trump's bid for reelection. It's time they got it.
The Colorado Supreme Court, Maine secretary of state and others have claimed the 14th Amendment bars Trump from holding office because he "engaged in insurrection or rebellion." The Supreme Court should act quickly to state its position on the matter.
As former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark notes, Trump has neither been charged nor convicted of insurrection in a criminal court, so the legal overreach we see today cannot be justified. In his words: “The Supreme Court of the United States needs to cut through this nonsense with rapid quickness.”
Americans cannot endure an entire election season with the looming question of “insurrection” hanging over us. The matter must be resolved promptly, and it should go in Trump’s favor. This is nothing but petty politics.
Clark has made a compelling case for the justices to address the constitutionality question and expedite their decision, and they have responded. The Supreme Court will rightly decide if Trump can be barred from the ballot. This question of constitutionality should under no circumstance hang over the 2024 election and must be resolved now.
Trump’s team has expressed nervousness over the decision. It isn't a sure win for the former president.
I am confident that most Americans believe he should be able to run. Most Americans recognize the partisanship behind this. Whether they are pro-Trump or not, most Americans want a fair fight.
Will Trump be allowed to win a second term? Those struggling in America cannot afford to wait.