Arizona Senate Republicans just chose Trump over the Constitution
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The Arizona Senate has approved a bill that would keep Donald Trump on Arizona’s ballot.
Never mind that Trump is already headed for Arizona’s ballot and a federal judge already tossed out a lawsuit to take him off Arizona’s ballot on procedural grounds.
Senate Bill 1158 would decree that any presidential nominee from any recognized political party cannot be denied a spot on Arizona’s ballot “on the basis of a claimed violation of the 14th Amendment.”
Constitution, schmonstitution.
GOP is worried Trump will be booted
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Janae Shamp, says her bill, which passed Monday on a 16-13 party line vote, is not partisan.
“It very well could happen in the state of Arizona against any other presidential candidate as well,” the Surprise Republican told her colleagues on Monday.
I suppose it could … if another lame duck president summoned his supporters to Washington, D.C., then dispatched them to the Capitol, wherein they broke in to try to stop Congress from certifying the election of the guy who beat him.
Just think how many times that has happened in the 248-year history of the nation.
Shamp evidently is petrified that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court will find that Colorado was within its right to throw Trump off the ballot on 14th Amendment grounds, sparking more states to give the pride of the Republican Party the old heave-ho.
Trump ballot case could save: Or erode the Constitution
The 14th Amendment says anyone who engages in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. or gives “aid or comfort” to its enemies after taking an oath to support the Constitution is barred from holding public office, unless two-thirds of Congress votes to grant that person amnesty.
Shamp seems to think the Arizona Legislature can offer amnesty as well.
14th Amendment challenge is unlikely
Personally, I think the scheme to deny Trump a place on the ballot is one of most undemocratic ideas to come down the electoral pike in a long while.
He hasn’t been convicted or even charged with insurrection or rebellion, though it’s pretty clear that he comforted the creepers who tried to stage a coup.
Still, is that enough to deny 70 million American voters the right to vote for the candidate of their choice?
That’s for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide.
It seems highly unlikely, based on the justices’ questioning during a recent hearing, that they’re going to disqualify Trump on 14th Amendment grounds.
But it seems downright shocking that the Arizona Senate is preemptively proclaiming that if the Supreme Court ruling goes against Trump, then the 14th Amendment simply doesn’t apply here in Arizona.
What they’re saying is that forced to make a choice between the United States Constitution and Donald Trump, they pick Trump.
Did I say stunning? It’s actually a little scary.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @LaurieRoberts or on Threads at laurierobertsaz.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Senate Republicans choose Trump over the Constitution
