{"id":2230139,"date":"2024-04-25T14:32:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T18:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alito-criminalizing-close-election-contests-would-destabilize-entire-foundation-of-american-democracy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-25T14:34:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T18:34:58","slug":"alito-criminalizing-close-election-contests-would-destabilize-entire-foundation-of-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alito-criminalizing-close-election-contests-would-destabilize-entire-foundation-of-american-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Alito Warns Against Criminalizing Close Election Contests"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Falito-criminalizing-close-election-contests-would-destabilize-entire-foundation-of-american-democracy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2230139&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Justice Alito cautioned \u2063that criminalizing individuals for questioning government-operated elections could jeopardize democracy \u2063during\u200b oral arguments about presidential\u2064 immunity. Special counsel Jack Smith indicted ex-President Trump for disputing the 2020 \u2062election \u2063administration. The Supreme \u2064Court is reviewing the\u200d extent of presidential immunity from \u200dcriminal \u2062prosecutions for actions within \u200btheir official duties.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito suggested Thursday during oral arguments regarding presidential immunity that criminalizing individuals just because they question government-run elections would destabilize true democracy. <\/p>\n<p>Special counsel Jack Smith <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/01\/biden-delivers-another-blow-against-his-primary-political-rival-with-latest-trump-indictment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indicte<\/a>d former President Donald Trump for questioning the administration of the 2020 election. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hollywood-celebs-rage-in-defeat-after-barrett-confirmation-revolting-disgraceful-unconscionable\/\" title=\"Hollywood Celebs Rage in Defeat After Barrett Confirmation: 'Revolting. Disgraceful. Unconscionable'\">high court<\/a> is now hearing challenges as to whether presidents have immunity from criminal prosecutions for actions taken while in office that fall within the scope of their presidential duties. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me end with just a question about, what is required for the functioning of a stable democratic society, which is something that we all want?\u201d Alito began. \u201cI\u2019m sure you would agree with me that a stable, democratic society requires that a candidate who loses an election, even a close one, even a hotly contested one, leave office peacefully if that candidate is the incumbent?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course,\u201d attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/12\/18\/meet-lawyer-michael-dreeben-the-man-behind-three-major-anti-trump-operations\/\">Michael Dreeben<\/a> said. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Justice Alito hypothesizes what could happen if presidents don\u2019t have criminal immunity:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf an incumbent\u2026knows\u2026that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country?\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zXSJEGMNOo\">pic.twitter.com\/zXSJEGMNOo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 The Recount (@therecount) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/therecount\/status\/1783534043969048618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 25, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cNow, if an incumbent who loses a very close, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abbott-announces-special-legislative-session-setting-up-second-try-at-adopting-election-reforms\/\" title=\"Abbott Announces Special Legislative Session, Setting Up Second Try At Adopting Election Reforms\">hotly contested election<\/a> knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off in a peaceful retirement but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy?\u201d Alito asked. \u201cAnd we can look around the world and find countries where we have seen this process where the loser gets thrown in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I think it\u2019s exactly the opposite, Justice Alito,\u201d Dreeben said. \u201cThere are lawful mechanisms to contest the results in an election and outside the record but I think of public knowledge, petitioner and his allies filed dozens of electoral challenges and my understanding is lost all but one that was not outcome determinative in any respect. There were judges that said in order to sustain substantial claims of fraud that would overturn an election results that\u2019s certified by a state, you need evidence, you need proof and none of those things were manifested. So there\u2019s an appropriate way to challenge things through the courts with evidence, if you lose, you accept the results, that has been the nation\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you,\u201d Alito interjected. <\/p>\n<p>Alito appears to warn Democrats that should the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amy-coney-barretts-1st-opinion-for-scotus-gets-no-respect-from-leading-liberal-justice\/\" title=\"Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s 1st Opinion For SCOTUS Gets No \u2018Respect\u2019 From Leading Liberal Justice\">high court rule<\/a> that certain presidential acts are not covered by presidential immunity and Smith\u2019s lawfare case against the former president may continue \u2014 true democratic norms would be decimated as partisan politicians could weaponize the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-pardon-jon-woods-a-victim-of-process-crimes-like-michael-flynn\/\" title=\"President Trump, Please Pardon Jon Woods, a Victim of Process Crimes Like Michael Flynn\">justice system<\/a> to target their opponents.  <\/p>\n<p>Smith indicted <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/02\/trump-could-have-spent-jan-6-talking-about-the-weather-and-still-would-have-been-indicted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trum<\/a>p on charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. In simpler terms, Smith alleges that Trump\u2019s claims that the 2020 election was stolen were false and that Trump knew they were false. <\/p>\n<p>To support his claims, Smith alleges that since federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency \u2014 which meddled in the 2020 election and told Trump the election <em>wasn\u2019t <\/em>stolen \u2014 he should have taken that at face value, as pointed out by Federalist Senior Editor <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/02\/doj-indictment-of-trump-is-a-declaration-of-war-against-american-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Daniel Davidson<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>But objecting to elections is a tale as old as time. <\/p>\n<p>Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TPostMillennial\/status\/1513217806711590920\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stil<\/a>l claims the 2016 election was stolen while Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern, Pramila Jayapal, Raul Grijalva, Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters \u2014 who also called the 2000 election \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?c4927332\/user-clip-al-gore-rejects-maxine-waters-electoral-college-objection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fraudulent<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and Jamie Raskin all objected to Congress\u2019 certification of electoral votes in 2017 that formally declared Trump the winner, my colleague Tristan Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/13\/second-j6-hearing-criminalizes-republicans-for-election-objections-after-democrats-made-them-for-decades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">details<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The 2004 election was also considered \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nadler.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=392145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stolen<\/a>\u201d by New York Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/a-stolen-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jerry Nadler<\/a> who went so far as to declare voting machines need to be investigated. <\/p>\n<p>And even after the Supreme Court ended Al Gore\u2019s attempt to overturn the outcome of the election, there were no steps taken to throw Gore in jail for challenging the contest. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During oral arguments on presidential immunity, Justice Alito cautioned that criminalizing those questioning election integrity could endanger democracy. Jack Smith indicted Ex-President Trump for disputing the 2020 election conduct. The Supreme Court is reviewing challenges on presidential accountability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2230140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/1280px-The_US_Supreme_Court_up_close_and_personal-e1714066662271.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2230139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/1280px-The_US_Supreme_Court_up_close_and_personal-e1714066662271.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2230140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}