Trump

Via Jon Cooper

 

NY Times - The Constitution sets very few eligibility requirements for presidents. They must be at least 35 years old, be “natural born” citizens and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.There are no limitations based on character or criminal record. While some states prohibit felons from running for state and local office, these laws do not apply to federal offices.The Republican and Democratic Parties have guaranteed spots on general-election ballots in every state, and the parties tell election officials whose name to put in their spot. States could, in theory, try to keep Mr. Trump off the ballot by passing legislation requiring a clean criminal record, but this would be on legally shaky ground.“We let states set the time, place and manner” of elections, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who specializes in election law, “but I think the best reading of our Constitution is you don’t let the state add new substantive requirements.”  While that view is not universal among legal experts, it prevailed in court in 2019, after California passed a law requiring candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on primary ballots. A federal district judge blocked the law from taking effect, saying it was most likely unconstitutional. The California Supreme Court also unanimously blocked it as a violation of the state constitution, and the case never reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

ABC, 2023 - "The Constitution has very few requirements to serve as President, such as being at least 35 years of age. It does not bar anyone indicted, or convicted, or even serving jail time, from running as president and winning the presidency," he said in an email to CNN. Could a president serve from prison? That's less clear. "How someone would serve as president from prison is a happily untested question," Hasen said.

Republicans against Trump:  Trump’s former (and future?) national security adviser Mike Flynn: “If we are going to have one nation under God which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God”

Top US firms staggering tax cuts, with some paying $0 or less

 RBReich: When we hear how the Supreme Court has delayed Trump's Jan 6 trial, remember that one of the votes to create that delay came from Justice Thomas, whose wife Ginni supported the coup attempt. 

How Trump is reviving the 1930s version of the GOP

NBC - Closing arguments are set to begin today in a Donald Trump co-defendant’s high-stakes bid to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case. If Willis ends up being removed, her entire office would be disqualified as well, and a new prosecutor would have to take over the sprawling case.The motion to dismiss Willis from the case was brought by former Trump White House campaign staffer Michael Roman. Willis is accused of having an “improper” personal relationship with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she had appointed to be the special prosecutor in the case. She is also accused of benefiting financially from Wade’s appointment.Willis and Wade have acknowledged that they’d been in a relationship but they maintain that it started after he was appointed special counsel. Read more about the Georgia case here.