WTF Just Happened Today

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

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1/ The Colorado Supreme Court removed Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot, ruling that Trump engaged in an insurrection leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the decision reads. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.” The decision from Colorado’s high court reverses a lower court’s ruling that said Trump had “engaged in an insurrection,” but that presidents are not subject to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because they are not an “officer of the United States.” The ruling marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. The ruling was 4-3 and will be placed on hold pending appeal until Jan. 4. [Editor’s note: This is breaking news. More soon.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / CNBC / CBS News / Axios)

2/ Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed one of the harshest state immigration laws in modern U.S. history. Senate Bill 4 makes unauthorized border crossings a state crime, authorizes state officials to arrest undocumented immigrants anywhere in the state, and allows judges to issue them de facto deportation orders. The law makes it a state crime – a Class B misdemeanor – to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry, and carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. The law allows a judge to drop the charges if a migrant agrees to be deported to Mexico – regardless of whether or not they emigrated from Mexico in the first place. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new Texas law. (Texas Tribune / CBS News /