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How the US Government Needs to be Changed [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-08-18
What follows is a list of changes I feel are needed and warranted to Federal laws, in light of recent goings-on. This is a draft — not a final, well-considered list. I will not attempt to defend each point exactly as written because it is quite likely that there may be major problems or unintended consequences of my ideas here. I am posting this to start a conversation. Please contribute.
SCOTUS:
Should the Senate not hold hearings for a SCOTUS nominee, that shall be deemed as confirmation by default, and the President may then appoint that judge to SCOTUS without explicit Senate confirmation. (Equivalent to a recess appointment.)
Congress should write minimum ethics codes for all levels of the judiciary.
A federal judge who thwarts his testimony before the Senate shall immediately lose his seat in the judiciary.
A federal judge may not preside in a case involving the President who nominated him or her.
POTUS:
A sitting President may be and should be indicted while still in office for Federal crimes committed before or during his term in office, and need not be impeached prior to his indictment for such crimes. Such indictment would not constitute an impeachment -- he would remain in office.
A president has no right to violate the law, and should he do so he may not be pardoned for doing so, by himself or by anyone else, including a subsequent President. (Perhaps this provision could be overridden by a pardon by a subsequent president and 2/3 vote of the House (which represents the people, not the states). Having pardon power, the President must remain completely above the fray.
The DOJ should be made an independent division of government. Senate confirmation is required for the appointment of the AG, and Senate confirmation should be required for his removal as well.
Clarify that a President has no Constitutional ability to pardon himself, and that any attempt do do so by, for example, temporarily stepping down and letting his VP pardon him, will be considered invalid as well.
Any President (or Congressman, or Justice, or any other officeholder at any level of government whatsoever) who violates or attempts to violate his oath of office to maintain himself in power and allow for his immediate removal from power.
Pass laws to allow Amendment 25, Section 4, to be invoked when needed. In particular, make this invocable by the House of Representatives after consultation with some appropriate medical advisory body.
If a President who commits a crime pardons persons for crimes committed on on his behalf, those pardons will be considered invalid.
CONGRESS:
Make it a Federal crime for a Congressmen (Senate or House), to violate his oath of office -- with the caveat that there must be a distinction made between actions (including votes) and mere verbiage.
Eliminate the filibuster.
Eliminate seniority (and related traditions) in most matters, e.g., especially in those circumstances where seniority allows a single senator to block the will of the Senate.
Pass term limits.
THE STATES:
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