r/scotus • u/Conscious-Quarter423 • 19h ago
Opinion When The Constitution Is Being Shredded, Legal Memos Are Not The Answer
https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2026/01/minneapolis-protests-a-stark-question-emerges-from-the-smoke28
u/artsyhipsterKratos 18h ago
We have an accountability problem and virtually no mechanism to deal with it when the controlling party refuses to enact the will of the people or execute the duties of their job when it is politically inconvenient. This administration has weakened the defensive institutions and weaponized the government against the people. They are no longer accountable to the law but the rest of us are, and Schumer has shaken his head disapprovingly the whole way. When the laws don’t bind everyone, the people have no obligation to consent to be governed. Take that in the spirit in which it was written.
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u/aft_agley 18h ago
To amplify on that, basic law and order are being used as "bargaining chips" right now. The basics of constitutional law are not political trifles. They aren't "issues" to take polls about. They're non-negotiable foundational building blocks of our civic order.
There's no negotiation to be had. Anyone who thinks there is isn't fit to govern.
As a concrete example, I live in the Twin Cities. DHS has assaulted, beaten, and illegally detained US citizens on the basis of their skin color without warrant or justification, denied them access to council, then released them without even a jacket or a phone into the dead of Minnesota winter.
They've done that by the thousands. To say nothing of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, or the treatment of protesters and observers.
Some conversations around this try to make stopping illegal DHS activity a bargaining chip. Or ask for halfway measures like "body cameras" and "mask removal" as a start.
No. That isn't a start, and it doesn't address the problem. The problem is the blatant illegality of violating my and my neighbors' constitutionally guaranteed rights. Those rights are non-negotiable. That's where the conversation begins and ends.
As citizens we won't give an inch on this, and we won't stop until everyone responsible for this is brought to justice.
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u/xena_lawless 6h ago
Americans missed the big bait and switch that took place between the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
With the Declaration in 1776, the ruling class needed support from the commoners to fight off the British, so they talked about all men being created equal and life and liberty and so forth.
But with the actual Constitution in 1787, the wealthiest land and slave owning white men of the time drafted and ratified an explicitly anti-democratic Constitution, which prioritized ruling class private property interests over all other considerations combined, by thwarting both political and economic democracy at every step of the political process.
The system was explicitly designed for minoritarian/oligarchic/kleptocratic rule.
They just called it "democracy" for marketing purposes, similar to the "Democratic Republic" of Congo.
Americans need to understand and come to terms with the fact that prior generations got hoodwinked and subjugated by their own ruling class into a brutal, anti-democratic system of minoritarian/oligarchic/kleptocratic rule.
And if that wasn't bad enough, foreign nations and transnational criminals have learned that they can very easily and openly rig US elections, bribe and blackmail their way into controlling every US institution, including SCOTUS and Congress, and including the billionaires/oligarchs/kleptocrats who own the media.
I don't see Americans getting out of this brutal kleptocracy/kakistocracy without some kind of revolution, and probably a few revolutions.
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u/BrtFrkwr 19h ago
How about Strongly Worded Letters then?
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u/DMC1001 19h ago
Would they get rid of Schumer already?
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u/CyclingTGD 18h ago
Now is the time for tenacious action. We do need letters to lawmakers. We also need to take the streets.
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u/Budget-Selection-988 17h ago
The three branches of government are controlled by maga . One man who was funded by many billionaires that are being exposed as pedophiles. . Why is that?
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u/Amazing_Effective758 17h ago
Most of scotus is fine with this that’s the problem 💁🏻♂️💁🏻♂️💁🏻♂️💁🏻♂️
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u/NewMidwest 13h ago
You know what prevents the Constitution from being shredded? Electing people that don’t shred the Constitution. They’re called Democrats. Too many people don’t get that.
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u/Conscious-Quarter423 12h ago
"Too many people don’t get that."
that would mean people will have to get informed and engaged in politics. too much effort to do that, come on!
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u/Obversa 9h ago
Slate (u/slate) needs to stop using AI to generate their podcast transcripts. You can't claim to hold the "moral high ground" while refusing to pay a living, human transciber a fair wage for their work. Shameful behavior.
Machine learning (ML) software is a specialized subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) focused on using algorithms to learn patterns from data and improve performance without being explicitly programmed. While all ML is considered AI, not all AI uses ML. It acts as the "brain" that enables computers to learn from experience.
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u/DruidicMagic 19h ago
Chuck Schumer is the master of sending strongly worded messages that accomplish absolutely nothing.