My gratitude for today’s post goes to Eric D. Mertz.
***
As someone who has been avowedly #NeverTrump since at least Iowa, I am often met with a response from reluctant Trump supporters which is somewhere along the lines of “Vote for him to keep Hillary from stacking the Supreme Court with leftist Justices.” If I had any faith Trump would name Justices such as Willet in Texas, I would be willing to do so. However, in spite of his list – A list which Trump has already repudiated, I would remind you – I fundamentally do not trust him to name qualified and Constitutionally minded individuals to the court.
On top of that, his stance on the issues is severely troubling.
Let’s begin with Eminent Domain. Trump’s record here reads like a warning about the unintended side effects of the Kelo v New London decision. His history of abuse of the rights of private property for his own profit – from Atlantic City to Bridgeport, CT and from the US to Scotland – is not the history of a man who respects the rule of law and sanctity of private property upon which our society is based.
When Trump heard the Kelo result, he celebrated.
“I happen to agree with it 100%. if you have a person living in an area that’s not even necessarily a good area, and … government wants to build a tremendous economic development, where a lot of people are going to be put to work and … create thousands upon thousands of jobs and beautification and lots of other things, I think it happens to be good.”
And don’t try to tell me this will be good for the economy, history shows this doesn’t work.
From there, we need to look at his stance on the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. The dangers he presents can be summed up by his stance on the banning of firearm purchases by those on government watch lists. Riddled with dangerous flaws across the board the No-Fly List was actually ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Its so bad even the ACLU, who have a history of anti-gun advocacy, have come out against using the No-Fly List to restrict firearm ownership.
Let’s not forget his stance on libel laws, either. Reading almost like a return to John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts, Trump has called for opening up the Libel Laws in a way which will allow him to sue anyone who says mean things about him, regardless of how true they are.
That’s right, truth would no longer be an absolute defense if Trump had his way.
On the law and order side, Trump has called for Congress to implement the death penalty for cop killers in direct violation of the Woodson v North Carolina decision by the Supreme Court. Reason has a list of other issues with constitutional order which Trump promises to unleash including:
- Stripping “Anchor Babies” of their citizenship in violation of the 14th Amendment and the Article 1, Section 9 prohibition on Bills of Attainder
- Seizure of foreign national’s financial assets without a criminal conviction
- Mandatory enrollment of all Muslims in a national database, not unlike Wilson’s actions against Germans in WWI and Roosevelt’s actions against Japanese in WWII
- Using the power of the Presidency to influence – or worse, bully – judges who behave in ways which he doesn’t like, further damaging the separation of powers
There are still more issues as well which impact here.
- His long history of refusing to honor contracts points to an issue with the fundamental nature of contract law
- He said he wants to shut down portions of the internet on the basis of geography
- He has declared his desire to have the armed forces committ war crimes
- And he has embraced executive orders as a means to go around Congress in much the same manner Obama has
So, tell me, with this knowledge, why should any one trust Trump with the nomination of Supreme Court Justices?
