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in a country founded directly on "no kings, fuck kings in particular" it is beyond insulting that supposed "originalist" judges are taking seriously the proposition that the President is in fact a king

like I'm sorry these people are the ones who spend all their time talking about how the inviolable intent of the founders is the only thing that matters there aren't a lot of things that the founders agreed on but "fuck kings" was about as close a consensus position as you could find!

With a side order of "And fuck that king in particular."

they weren't big fans of George!

john hancock signed so big so "fat george" wouldn't need his reading glasses to see it! XD he said so!

Even our kings aren't above the law! We have the Magna Carta, and that was around before even the US existed!

I went there! Well, I went to where the Magna Carta was signed or something. I have nothing really to add but I just was excited because it was the only time I have been to the UK.

(There's a pub quiz question about when it was signed; strictly speaking the Magna Carta was never signed, rather it was sealed by an official (in 1215).)

Listen: I am dumb. I do not believe we even learned about the Magna Carta in the American public school system. I did get a photo of some chairs, though.

Most Brits would get it wrong, and it's not important, hence the parenthetical.

Originally, the only barrier to citizenship was having fought for that fucking king in "The English War."

Which is very unfair because most of their beef was really with Lord North.

from Alexander fucking Hamilton himself: bsky.app/profile/seth...

"The President...would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law." - Federalist 69 guides.loc.gov/federalist-p...

Research Guides: Federalist Papers: Primary Documents in American History: Federalist Nos. 61-70guides.loc.gov The Federalist Papers were a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pen name "Publius." This guide compiles Library of Congress digital materials, extern...

and he was really one of the most monarchist of the lot!

´Determining Orginal Intent isn´t based on all your ´facts´ or ´history´ or ´shit a dude actually said´. It´s vibes, man. Vibes.´

Didn't some of them want to name Washington king? They lost and that's good, but some of them were less "fuck kings" and more "fuck that one king in particular." Your point stands, though; the monarchists lost and that's enshrined in pretty much all the founders writings.

Because Washington himself agreed with that foundational position and did not want to *be* a king and rejected offers to remain in office indefinitely. Which is actually a pretty remarkable thing about him!

It really is, real Galadriel avoids the temptation of taking the One Ring moment in my book

And really remarkable considering that this was an era where democracies had largely vanished from European & colonial societies, monarchies were all anyone knew & the presumed default, and a lot of well-meaning people would have happily accepted that power.

Very well put 💯

There’s a lot of legitimate criticisms to make of Washington, but he was still offered that era’s version of absolute power on a plate and said, “no thank you.”

I've sometimes wondered if Washington might have made a different decision there if he had had natural children of his own.

Who knows? Though based on what I’ve read about him (mostly Ron Chernow’s book) he didn’t really like holding positions of authority on that level, accepted them mostly out of a sense of duty, and was plagued with self-doubt throughout. Relatable!

pretty much. he was a pretty good soldier, and a respected commander, but he did NOT want to rule.

It's obvious that the whole "founder's intent" is basically just the political equivalent of an oracle divining the will of the gods- infallible and impossible to argue with. It's a bad faith equivalent to reading entrails or any other divination technique.

i mean, it would be if the founders hadn't been such prolific writers and told us exactly why they did what they did, what they compromised on, why, and what they really wanted.

Sure, in the same way that the teachings of Jesus are pretty consistent, even with how significantly different each book of the New Testament is compared to the others. Still doesn't really prevent people from interpreting things out of context however they want.

true.

Well but hang on, shouldn't we worry about these possible bad side effects of not having a king? So originalist!

you'd think so, but

Republican SCOTUS justices: The question as to whether or not the Founders intended the Presidency to be an absolute monarchy is more complex than it may appear to the layman.

Even, if I remember my eighth-grade history correctly, contrary to and in the face of public acclamation for a king in the early 1780s.

Scott Adams is pretty much the benchmark for a person you want to avoid agreeing with these days but back when he could occasionally be mistaken for insightfully funny he had Dogbert say “The office of the president was invented so that the people could believe they did not have a king.” (Roughly.)

Founders’ intent ain’t got shit to do with it. This was a transaction, paid for by Harlan Crow and every other businessman who want the Trump tax cuts to be made permanent

I’m PRETTY sure the separation of Church and State was another thing they agreed on but we still have Conservatives going on about how this is a “Christian nation” thus giving them an excuse to use religious doctrine as a basis for law.

that irritates me so much. the founders were not all christian, and in fact many of them considered themselves philosophes. they were deists, not xtians. and they didn't want organized religion within 10 city blocks of the damn government.

Such a genuine simple honesty. This hypocrisy & tension could not be more pertinent to the nation. I hope we can acknowledge & acknowledge & acknowledge this, I hope we can keep seeing it again and again and again. This is the great lie. Well done, tyvm.