The Supreme Court rejected the efforts of Democrats in multiple states to keep former President Donald Trump off of presidential primary ballots in a unanimous ruling issued Monday.
Only Congress, not the states, can hold candidates accountable for "insurrection" under the 14th Amendment, the court ruled.
Leftists in Maine, Colorado and other states that had attempted to keep Trump off the ballot were no doubt giving birth to live kittens when they heard about the decision. But it's hard to imagine a reaction less balanced than unhinged-sports-commentator-turned-unhinged-political-commentator Keith Olbermann's, which he posted to X shortly after the court's ruling was published.
"The Supreme Court has betrayed democracy," Olbermann wrote. "Its members including Jackson, Kagan and Sotomayor have proved themselves inept at reading comprehension. And collectively the 'court' has shown itself to be corrupt and illegitimate.
"It must be dissolved," he added.
The Supreme Court has betrayed democracy. Its members including Jackson, Kagan and Sotomayor have proved themselves inept at reading comprehension. And collectively the "court" has shown itself to be corrupt and illegitimate.
It must be dissolved.
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) March 4, 2024
There's so much to unpack there -- the fact that the court's decision didn't even give Olbermann pause, apparently, to consider that perhaps his was the uninformed opinion is only the beginning.
If this were a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, his argument still wouldn't carry much water. But to put his own opinion over the unanimous consensus of nine legal and constitutional experts requires something outsized on Olbermann's part \-- ego, mental illness, ignorance, denial or something. Take your pick.
But, according to Olbermann, these nine individuals are not only unqualified to sit as a court; they can't even read.
Luckily, he had a solution to fix the issue he saw with the separation of powers in what were established by the nation's founders to be three equally powerful branches of government -- do away with that separation of powers completely by dissolving the court, presumably upon the orders of one of the other two co-equal branches of government.
The idea is obviously dangerous -- or would be, had it come from anyone with any credibility, anyway. Luckily, social media for the most part treated Olbermann's post with all of the respect it deserved, which is to say none at all.
A representative sample of a few of my favorites -- which give me hope for the future of this country -- follows.
