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Huckabee Announces Support For Term Limits – For Supreme Court Justices

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2016 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wants the Supreme Court justices to be term-limited.

The President of the United States is a single individual with more power over the nation and the world than any other person on earth. That power includes day-to-day decisions of great consequence, and implementation of policies that can have longstanding effects for years. Some presidents also have what arguably is the most long-term, farthest reaching power of his entire tenure: nominating a Supreme Court justice – or possibly a few.

President Barack Obama nominated and successfully oversaw the confirmation of two Supreme Court justices: Sonia Sotomayor in 2009, and Elena Kagan in 2010.

Currently, the Court has several justices who some believe will resign or retire in the next few years, including 79-year old Antonin Scalia, 78-year old Anthony Kennedy, and 82-year old Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The next president America elects, especially if they are re-elected, likely will have the honor and ability to impact the course of the nation for decades, if not a centuries, based upon having their nominees confirmed.

Mike Huckabee says he’d like to be president, and he’d also like the ability to replace more than just a few Supreme Court justices, along with many federal court judges.

According to Article III of the U.S. Constitution, all federal judges are appointed for life, unless they are impeached.

Today, Mike Huckabee held a Facebook Q&A, during which he gleefully answered questions from supporters.

I will begin answering questions for our Facebook Q&A in about 10 minutes. Please leave your question below and I will…

Posted by Mike Huckabee on Monday, June 22, 2015

In fact, one “supporter” asked Huckabee, “Are you a closeted homosexual?,” to which the ordained Southern Baptist preacher replied, “No, what a very odd question. I’m sorry I’m not available–happily married for 41 years; 3 children; 5 grandchildren. Keep looking.”

When asked, “What would your first act be after being named President?,” Huckabee responded, “Get on my knees and ask for wisdom.”

And several times he mentioned his unwavering support of the Constitution.

In response to a question about NSA spying, Huckabee responded, “We have to abide by the Constitution. Franklin said that if we give up liberty for security, we will have neither. Government needs probable cause and a warrant. On that, the Constitution is quite clear.”

Explaining why he refused to take a side on the issue of South Carolina’s Confederate flag, Huckabee said, “I take the Constitution seriously.”

But when asked, “What is your opinion on term limits for Congressmen?,” Huckabee said, “I support term limits for all 3 branches of government.”

Translation: If I become president, I’d like to get rid of all the liberals on the Supreme Court bench, and across the nation in every federal court.

That’s not inconsistent with his prior statements. Huckabee just last week called for Christians to choose civil disobedience, rather than biblical disobedience if the Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality.

And in a letter to supporters last week, Huckabee railed against these “nine, unelected Supreme Court justices,” stating, “I also refuse to surrender to the false god of judicial supremacy, which would allow black-robed and unelected judges the power to make law and enforce it, which upends the separation of powers so very central to our Constitution. Too much power concentrated in the courts is a threat to our Republic. I will fight judicial tyranny and return power to the people.”

But remember, Mike Huckabee says, “I take the Constitution seriously” and “We have to abide by the Constitution.”

Apparently, only when it suits him.

 

Image by The White House via Flickr

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News

Comer Changes Tune After Lutnick Allegedly Lied

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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer appears to be changing his tune on Howard Lutnick, now suggesting that it is “very possible” he might subpoena him after the Trump Commerce Secretary allegedly lied before Congress about the extent of his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Just two weeks ago, MS NOW reported that Chairman Comer had dodged questions about subpoenaing Lutnick.

Asked at the time if his committee had any plans to subpoena the Commerce Secretary, Comer instead replied, “Well, we’re going to try to get these five [witnesses] nailed down. We’ve got a lot of very important people we’re trying to bring in to answer questions.”

On Thursday, the question came up again, and Comer offered reporters a different perspective.

Asked if “in the spirit of bipartisanship” he would request Lutnick testify, Comer replied it was “very possible, and I think it’s a good possibility his name will arise on some questioning today” as the Committee deposes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said Lutnick was on her list to talk about with Clinton.

According to The Independent, Comer’s “suggestion that Lutnick could soon be facing a congressional subpoena comes after weeks of increased scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein, his onetime next-door neighbor in New York, after documents released by the Justice Department showed that he’d lied during an interview with the New York Post in October.”

Lutnick had “claimed to have cut off contact with Epstein after a 2005 encounter that he claimed had left him so unsettled that he’d vowed to ‘never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.'”

Documents from the Epstein files showed that Lutnick had continued to maintain a relationship with Epstein as recently as 2018 — “long after” Epstein had “spent time in jail for state-level offenses related to his preying on young girls,” The Independent reported.


READ MORE: ‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

 

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‘Theatre of the Absurd’: Melania Trump Presiding Over UN Security Council Sparks Uproar

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Melania Trump will preside over the United Nations Security Council next week — a decision igniting backlash before it begins.

“First Lady Melania Trump is set to make history at the United Nations, taking the gavel as the United States assumes the Security Council Presidency to emphasize education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace,” a press release from the Office of the First Lady reads.

“Mrs. Trump’s leadership will mark the first time a sitting U.S. First Lady presides over the Security Council as members consider education, technology, peace, and security.”

An opinion piece at The New Republic says, “While the first lady has shown an interest in children’s welfare, particularly in Russia’s war on Ukraine, it’s hard to imagine her address as any more than a symbolic gesture that will look good in a social media post.”

READ MORE: ‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, wrote: We are thrilled to have @Flotus gavel in the US Presidency of the Security Council.”

Critics online are blasting the decision.

“Just when you thought they couldn’t disrespect professional, career U.S. diplomats, American diplomacy or international organizations more- they produce this grotesque theatre of the absurd,” wrote former U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Luis Moreno.

Associate professor of History Thomas Småberg commented, “I’m a social network scholar with a focus on the Middle Ages and Trump’s uses of family, friends and followers is straight out of medieval aristocracy. It’s so interesting to [see] his abuse of presidential power and his disregard for republicans.”

READ MORE: Florida Bill Spurs Political Persecution and Surveillance Fears — Sponsor Says ‘Trust Me’

 

Image via Reuters

 

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‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

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President Donald Trump, who has insisted on federalizing voting and who issued an executive order last March to pressure states to require proof of citizenship to register voters, is reportedly now being urged to declare an emergency over voting.

“Pro-Trump activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting,” The Washington Post reported in an exclusive.

“President Donald Trump has repeatedly previewed a plan to mandate voter ID and ban mail ballots in November’s midterm elections, and the activists expect their draft will figure into Trump’s promised executive order on the issue.”

According to Florida lawyer Peter Ticktin, who is advocating for a presidential order on voting, “we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes.”

“That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it,” Ticktin told the Post.

Claiming there is an emergency would allow the president to ban voting by mail and voting machines “as the vectors of foreign interference, Ticktin argued.”

Trump has repeatedly urged Republicans to pass the SAVE Act, which critics say could disenfranchise millions of American citizens who do not currently have a passport or access to their birth certificates. It could also disenfranchise people who have married and changed their names but did not do so on all their legal documents.

“Trump has said that if the bill fails, he will act unilaterally to impose the changes for the midterms,” the Post reported.

 

Image via Reuters

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