Yesterday I participated in a historic event in Burlington, Vermont, the Lawyers March in support of the rule of law. Never before have lawyers demonstrated en masse like this in Vermont. It was an inspiring and surprisingly moving event. On the one hand, I could not help but think, "It's about fucking time," thinking back to Scalia's coronation of Dubya back in 2000 (a truly stolen election!) and Alito's 2024 hallucination of presidential immunity for crimes committed in office, both of which were deserving of far greater execration and hissing than in fact they met with from the legal community. On the other hand, yesterday a crowd of about a thousand people, most of them lawyers, stood outside in the chilly rain for an hour, listening to speakers castigate the regime's contempt for the constitution, statutory law, and the courts, and applauding their calls for active and aggressive resistance on the part of the legal profession. Vermont lawyers are mad as hell and, it seems, they're not going to take it any more. The event ended with a reaffirmation of the oath we took upon entering the legal profession, which includes a commitment not to act in any way directly or indirectly injurious to the U.S. and Vermont Constitutions. It was a serious and solemn moment.
That's a backdrop to today's news that the Felon-in-Chief answered "I don't know" to an interviewer's direct question as to whether he is obliged to "uphold the Constitution." He added that he has a lot of "brilliant lawyers" who can advise him on that. But three months ago, he took an oath of office, as required by the Constitution before a president may take office. The oath did not say that he would seek legal advice as to whether violating the Constitution is a good idea. The oath, in words prescribed by the Constitution itself, says, "I... will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Did he not understand the plain meaning of the oath he was pronouncing? Did he not agree with it, although swearing to it? Having sworn to it, has he since changed his mind? Apparently, he could not honestly take that oath today. How much longer must we tolerate this filth at the apex of government?
