As the Colorado Supreme Court wrote, January 6 meets the bar for insurrection ā€œunder any viable definitionā€ of the term. The legal scholar Mark Graber, who has closely studied the Fourteenth Amendmentā€™s history, argues that ā€œinsurrectionā€ should be understood broadlyā€”an act of organized resistance to government authority motivated by a ā€œpublic purpose.ā€ That certainly describes the Capitol riot, in which a violent mob attacked law enforcement and threatened members of Congress and the vice president in order to block the rightful counting of the electoral vote and illegally secure the victory of the losing candidate. The historical record also suggests that the amendmentā€™s requirement that a prospective officeholder must have ā€œengaged in insurrectionā€ should also be understood broadlyā€”meaning that Trumpā€™s speech on the Ellipse that morning and his encouragement of the rioters while they smashed their way through the Capitol more than fit the bill.

  • affiliate@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    iā€™m not convinced by this either. at the center of current american politics, there are fundamental disagreements about what ā€œthe truthā€ is, and how to know what ā€œis trueā€. this is whatā€™s behind trumps ā€œfake newsā€ and his revisionist history. itā€™s not the case that the public is unanimously interested in knowing whatā€™s true, or that they believe the atlantic will tell them the truth.

    again, this article is dancing around the core problems in current american politics. i donā€™t think these problems can be solved by simply presenting new information or trying to debate the other side.

    there is still value in spreading this information, but it should come with an acknowledgement of the deeper underlying problems.