Amendment, Impeachment, Charities

Ratification of Amendments:

Three state attorneys’ general have filed a lawsuit against the United States Archivist to declare that the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified. This presents two unique issues which have to be resolved by the Supreme Court. I can’t find any legal authorities which provide guidance, so I suspect the result will either be determined by the majority’s philosophical desired results or just with a flip of the coin.

The Congress set a time limit which has long since expired for states to ratify the ERA. The Constitution either is silent or impliedly really does not give Congress that power. If the time limit applies, ERA is not ratified. If it does not, ERA may be, depending on the answer to the second question.

Before the 38th state ratified the ERA, some states withdrew their ratification. The Constitution is silent on whether a state’s ratification, once given, is irrevocable before an amendment is ratified. If the states can withdraw ratification, ERA fails. If they cannot, it is ratified.

A bunch of people will complain no matter what the Supreme Court does. As I’ve heard, the Supreme Court is not final because it is always right, but it is always right because it is final.

Impeachment:

Now that impeachment is, for the time, not active, there is in an outstanding question when impeachment is proper and whether an impeached official has to commit a crime to be impeached.  (I've noted elsewhere that "contempt of Congress" is not a crime, it's separation of powers at work.  Maybe not well, but it's been our history frequently.)  One commentator has noted that if a president sleeps all the time and does not come to work, impeachment may be a remedy – or may not.

That’s an interesting question. How about Pres. Wilson, who was incapacitated by a stroke before the passage of the 25^th amendment. Should he have been impeached? Pres. Coolidge was reputed to be either depressed or suffering from some sleeping disorder and worked very little. Impeachment or not? Pres. Lyndon Johnson prosecuted a war without a Congressional declaration, only a resolution and continued funding.  (That implies Congressional approval, but only Congress can declare war.)  Impeachment or not? Ditto president Bush I, President Bush II, and other presidents who prosecuted minor wars.

The problem to clarify these would be the agonizing process of new constitutional amendments or – shudder – calling a constitutional convention.

We live in interesting times.

Charities:

The Shriner organization used to have the largest endowment in the world, and used it for good things.  They (we - I do need to pay dues) run numerous free orthopedic hospitals for children and a world-class free burn center.  The lower interest rates have hurt the Shrine's investments, and I'm embarrassed that the Shrine has started running ads for donations.  I understand, the hospitals need money to run, but I do regret it.

There's an ad running called "Kars-4-kids" for people to donate cars.  I'm not going to donate.  They have cute kids doing the ad, but nobody says what they intend to do with the money.  Maybe it's for sick kids, maybe for hungry kids and maybe - although highly unlikely - for a school to teach kids to make a living by playing poker.  It's a tad annoying that the organization expects to make real money by the "4-kids" without any other explanation.

Mizpah!