As the Colorado Supreme Court wrote, January 6 meets the bar for insurrection “under any viable definition” of the term. The legal scholar Mark Graber, who has closely studied the Fourteenth Amendment’s history, argues that “insurrection” should be understood broadly—an act of organized resistance to government authority motivated by a “public purpose.” 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 amendment’s requirement that a prospective officeholder must have “engaged in insurrection” should also be understood broadly—meaning that Trump’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.

  • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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    10 months ago

    The Atlantic caters to the wealthy and powerful, so they’re likely trying to shape elite opinion with the potential to influence the Supreme Court.

    • affiliate@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      it would be nice if it had that effect, but it’s been 3 years since jan 6 and much has been said in that time (by the atlantic and others). january 6 has been such a central point of american politics for so many years, and it’s been such a polarizing thing that i doubt there are many people left who are still on the fence about it.

      i think this article is way more effective at reinforcing the idea that we can debate our way out of january 6th, than it is at actually debating our way out of january 6th.

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          10 months ago

          i’m not convinced by this either. at the center of current american politics, there are fundamental disagreements about what “the truth” is, and how to know what “is true”. this is what’s behind trumps “fake news” and his revisionist history. it’s not the case that the public is unanimously interested in knowing what’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 don’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.