"“If President Trump committed a heinous act worthy of disqualification, he should be disqualified for the sake of protecting our hallowed democratic system, regardless of whether citizens may wish to vote for him in Colorado,”

  • sugar_in_your_tea
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    But they do. The agencies that monitor such things have policies, and those are the defacto parameters until someone challenges them and we get a court ruling. That’s how things work in government, the legislative branch passes a law, the executive interprets the law, and the judicial branch hears cases when people disagree with the executive branch’s interpretation of the law.

    • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      What are the policies for what “natural born” means?

      If there were clear parameters as you claim why did McCain supporters have to bother with Senate Resolution 511?

      • sugar_in_your_tea
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        The resolution was made to prevent a legal challenge. Policy is not law, it’s policy, and policies can be challenged in the courts. So to avoid a potentially drawn out legal challenge, the Senate clarified their understanding of the law to avoid the whole thing.

        They probably didn’t need to make the resolution in order to allow McCain to run, and the judicial branch likely would’ve found that McCain was, in fact, eligible, such a legal suit could stall or change (i.e. in the court of public opinion) election results, hence the resolution.

          • sugar_in_your_tea
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Why wouldn’t they? Even something that seems like an open and shut case can take months or even years in court to resolve. That takes time away from campaigning, as well as likely reduced support for the accused. It’s the same idea as a smear campaign.

            So to avoid drama, they made that resolution so his candidacy wouldn’t be questioned.