back to your point about the original founding fathers and that is that if you look at the constitution under article 1 is the congress and that is a long section. if you go to article 2 about the president, it is a relatively short section dealing mostly with impeachment and how the electoral college works. this question makes the assumption, and i think it is valid, that that showed a preference in the original framers for emphasis on the governance by our legislature, but we have moved today towards a strong executive and an ineffective legislature. could you quickly describe the dialectic by how we got here? dr. kennedy: i can describe it but i'm not sure i can do it quickly. [laughter] there is a history behind it. don't quote me on the exact numbers but i think article 1 that deals with the legislature has 50 paragraphs in article 2 which deals with the executive has i believe 15 paragraphs. on the face, it suggests that the founders thought the center of gravity of the political system was in the congress, not the executive. recollect the 1830's, the age of andrew jackson, presidential candida

the president has a right under the constitution under article 2 clause 2 that he can exercise his pardon powers for anyone that he deems fit. no one is guaranteed a pardon. the words pardon is always used interchangeably with commutation. the correct terminology is clemency and clemency is what the forgiveness is for an incarcerated or even a formerly incarcerated individual. an incarcerated individual as we've seen here in some of these pardons that he has recently issued, they have the right once they receive clemency or commutation to be released from prison or have their fines or restitutions reduced or fully removed. a pardon essentially gives them their rights back once they've served their time at the federal bureau of prisons and restore some of those civil liberties such as the right to vote, to sit on a jury and the most popular is possess a firearm. >> right. and for michael cohen's sake we do expect more pardons to come, ron, but we do not expect michael cohen to be in that batch as of now because he is one of the only ones who testified, cooperated with authorities against t

the other thing that we've been looking at is the part of the constitution under article ii that sets up presidential power. the president takes an oath to faithfully execute the office. and another line of the constitution says that the president shall, quote, take care that the laws be faithfully executed. one argument is that the corrupt, even criminal exercise of a power, is not faithful execution, it's faithless execution. >> right. >> and thus, if it's done as part of a bribery scheme, those acts are illegal and invalid. so there is a valid -- let me just say, this is an uphill battle. there is, i think, an excessive legal culture that presumes that presidential power is absolute. i think that's incorrect. but i still think that it's an uphill battle to make an argument, given a very conservative bench that's now more conservative than it was just a month ago, that presidential power should be limited in the way that i've just argue here. >> right, i mean, i guess what -- the point here is that it seems like there is an intuitive consensus, even amongst scholars. there has to be

obstruction of justice so if you use the pardon power despite the fact that it is a constitutional power under article 2 for a sitting president if you nonetheless use the pardon power in order to obstruct an investigation into your own wrongdoing that constitutes the crime of obstruction of justice and we know from a supreme court decision that came down this past summer trump the events that a sitting president is not immune to criminal investigation and ultimately to criminal. to criminal conviction just because he's the president so donald trump could technically be a liable for obstruction of justice for using the pardon power to protect himself and to immunize himself despite the fact that the constitutional pardon power is seemingly unlimited in the constitution or speaking of protecting himself there has been a lot of talk as well of preemptive pardons before trump leaves office do you see that potentially going ahead even for himself potentially. i think that's very possible that he will try 1st of all this may be a warm up to his issuing a pardon for his daughter. and his son in law jarrett

constitution. the laws of the united states and treaties made under their authority. the first articlethe constitution has to do with congress. the second deals with the office of president, article three with the supreme court. one, two, three. that is the way our founding fathers planned it. a government made up of three equal independent parts put together in a system of checks and balances that keeps any one of them from becoming too powerful. a president can veto them. or the court declare them unconstitutional. congress can overrule the president with a two-thirds majority or initiate the overruling of the court by proposing a constitutional amendment. the president can appoint justices, but he can't remove them. everywhere the checks and balances are at work. the key to the courts rule in this land is to reveal the act of a president or congress and decide whether or not it is in keeping with the constitution. it also reviews some decisions of state courts and lower federal courts. you can see now that this white marble temple is more than just a law court if is a vital part of

there's not a shred of evidence, nd i'd say to my friend, under the constitution, under article , section 1.4, the states are in charge of their elections. under the section concerning the presidency, article 2, ection 4, we choose when we hear from the electors of the electoral college, which will be 6.uary but citing a "new york post" article of an unnamed democrat supposedly is an expert in lections certainly is not evidence. and in the cases across the country, there has been no case hasand case after been thrown out as they deserve out. thrown in fact, the supreme court just threw out a case yesterday claims against pennsylvania and its election process. don't understand how these attorneys can bring these cases the ut facing sanctions by arious courts for bringing frivolous, abusive litigation. this election was fair. have been many instances where they're trying to find fraud.vel of no fraud has been found. joe biden is the president and we will make him president on january 20, when occurs. rainauguration with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes mr. sp

. >> guest: well, under the united states constitution, article i and article ii along with the 12th amendnt, the united states congress is the ultimate judge and jury, the final arbiter of all election contests involving federal officials whether it be congressmen, senators or president of the united states. ando there's a process in place but which we do that, and that process is initiated on january the 6th beginning at 1 p.m. when we have a roll call of the states to a combined session of congress presided over by the vice president of thenited states, mike pence. d at theppropriate time when a state's name is listed and they submit their purported election results or electoral college vote, then if a house member and a senator concur and we objec to that particular submission of electoral college votes, tt triggers a two hour floor debate in the house and the senate and then a vote in the house and in t senate on whether to accept or reject those electionen returns. >> host: which states do you specifically plan to challenge? >> guest: well, or i'm not limiting myself. but by wa

therefore, they are violating the constitution under article four of section two of the united statesution. it states citizens of each state should be entitled to the same privileges and immunities as citizens of the cell states. when you use the government as a weapon -- host: let's go to stephen calling from fort lauderdale, florida. caller: good morning morning and happy holidays to you and happy holidays to all of my american friends, whether that be republican or democrat. i hope president-elect biden is listening and as well as president trump, i have some advice to maybe cure our country of this hatred going on between our country, between democrats and republicans. are you there? host: yes, make it quick, stephen, we are running out of time. caller: i will make it quick. i think president-elect biden should offer a deal to president trump, to pardon him and his family against any crimes, federal or otherwise, as long as president trump tells his coat the crimese -- all he committed during his presidency and they should come together and there was no rigging of our election. if

article two we do see a chief magistrate. and this could be salt once the constitution is ratified. as colonel mason so widely said, and yet we turn once more to article one. under the worthy gentleman's notion it is problematic to find any inter mingling, which takes the vice presidency and the senate article one. so from that it is a great dilemma and the power is necessary but it's equally detrimental to power as it corrupt. the absence of power equally corrupt. from that there is a power of energy. . an electoral college would be fixed between various states. and under article two, the vice president in every instance, should be the man that receives the second amount of largest number of votes. and ambition counter ex ambition. from that what we see the fruits of, a body of men who consistently find their interest separate from one another, but simultaneously incorporate. and for some a system of government that checks itself, but equally through its functions. is coerced to move together. it's shameful to say that coercion is sometimes necessary, but upon that we have met a great many of statesman, who have gone many distances fueled by their own ambition,

from that, under article two of the constitution, we do see a chief magistrate who has no function advisory. it can be solved with policy once the constitution is ratified, like a cabinet, as colonel mason so wisely said. yet we turn once more to article one, particularly the other house, the senate. under the worthy gentleman's notion it is problematic to find any intermingling betwixt vice presidency and the senate. from that, it is a great dilemma in government, mr. harris, that power is necessary. it is equally detrimental that power corrupts. the absence of power can equally corrupt because from that, we find a robbery of energy. the greatest fear is not the supreme in total corrupt power of an executive, but rather of a congress. indeed, once this measure which ensured that the executive would not be elected by congress but rather instead, a separate body, and electoral college, between the various states. i remind colonel mason under article two, the vice president in every instance should be the man who receives the second number of votes, setting an interest perhaps adverse to the

state of texas motion to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of understanding under the article iii of constitution. all pending motions are dismissed as moot. justice aledo. i would grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant to other relief and i express no view on any other issue. the last major legal challenge to the president's election defe defeat. a defeat by his own calculation of victory in 2016, a landslide lost. it came despite rebuttal of texas which makes no more sense from their original filing. so much of this played out or plausible legal argument, what's so serious is nearly two-thirds of the republican house delegation including 75% of the leadership signed onto this. a premeditated assault, the president himself signals weeks before the election. >> i think this will end up in the supreme court. i think it is important that we have nine justices. i think it is better if you go before the election because i think this scam that the democrats are pulling, it is a scam. the scam will be before the united states supreme court. >> and it won't. he wanted his cou

the reason why this is important is that under article 3 of our constitution the supreme court is the site of original jurisdiction meaning you go directly to disappear in court in cases of lawsuit or dispute between states was very rare for the supreme court to hear or the answer anything but in this particular case the supreme court is acting not as an appellate court not as an appeals court but as the original court and this is unlike any other case and the reason that they are basing this lawsuit the reason for this is that it is allege that it is against the constitution for the courts in essence to change the rules of elections they should be done so by legislature this is unlike any other case because it goes directly to the supreme court and it's being brought by states and not people that's critical. it on musk space x. starship project has suffered a setback after a prototype exploded while attempting to land incident happened on wednesday evening after a high altitude sub orbital flight test in texas. the flight which was to test things ranging from engine performance to ae

political analyst lionel why the case is important the reason why this is important is that under article 3 of our constitution this supreme court is this site have a regional jurisdiction meaning you go directly to the supreme court in cases of lawsuit or dispute between states which vary where for the supreme court to hear or the answer anything. but in this particular case the supreme court is acting not as an appellate court not as an appeals court but as the original court and this is unlike any other case and the reason that they are facing this lawsuit the reason for this is that it does allege that it is against the constitution for the courts in essence to change the rules of elections they should be done so by legislatures this is unlike any other case because it goes directly to the supreme court and it's being brought by states and not people that's critical. u.s. election is contested in the supremes court you chief says that this will be deleting videos that allege that the vote was rigged we'll explain old after the break. which is a planet with 5 moods an atmosphere highly active geology and ev

one that might be surprising to people is justice brennan in 1977 wrote a landmark article about the constitutions under the state constitution proposed and something else people don't realize that justice scalia supported that as well and his last majority opinion for the court called kansas versus car but states are free to and that's pretty close to a biblical truth. >> and to me it's a good way to and i think the people in the alabama may feel that's true. thank you for go on - - thank you for staying at the forefront and reminding people how important the decentralization process is and the different remedies think that's important and i personally appreciate your work in that regard so thank you. i guess i will close this out by thinking all of you for coming today we have a number of judges and public officials and the solicitor general so thank you for coming. i am always encouraged by her interest in the program so thank you very much alike forward to seeing you soon thank you for coming down and doing this. [applause] >> everyone make sure you go online if you haven't already to buy the book i

the reason why this is important is that under article 3 of our constitution the supreme court is the site have the original jurisdiction meaning you go directly to disapprove court in cases of lawsuit or dispute between states was very rare for the supreme court to hear or the answer anything but in this particular case the supreme court is acting not as an appellate court not as an appeals court but as the original court and this is unlike any other case. r.t.d. is marking a milestone on a verse or a 15 years since the cello 1st came under. yeah quite a while it was back in 2005 that are to burst into broadcasting life and i think it is fair to say since those humble beginnings on impressions being me. it was a room no good i was gone for another researcher it was. removed. from the narrow. bridge weapon of mass you know that those who knew already going to vote didn't. do that and waited for the day the ground of them tv's computers and mobile devices the air more than to a girl you're going to have a new country and if you don't need to both take your money in your own merit or ea

constitution. you might say but under article to the state legislator can do whatever it wants paid no, it can't dohatever it wants food but at the state ledge later passed a law and said only democrat electors can ever go to the electoral college? that would be ridiculous. the framers and certainly the rat of fires in the state conventions assumed the states would follow their constitution. when you have learned every power that is not flawless power to do whatever you want. it is to do whatever is legal within the confines of the law and the state constitution. there is a huge federal question here. finally, some people are saying what you expect the united states supreme court to do? to rule these 2.6 million so people who put in a male in ballots of their votes don't count. first of all, we are a nation of laws. what was fraud or team wants to go should not be legitimate today, especially when it states violates its own constitution and those public officials in pennsylvania violate their oath to that constitution. putting that aside, note that is not the job of united states supreme court. the

under the articles of confederation? through the coercion of the blood and the sword. article three of our constitution, the supreme court ensures a method whereby law, various states can settle their dispute with peace. in some, sir, revolutions of words and law and amount of blood. in brief. >> mr. mason, would you like to briefly respond? >> only in that mr. madison is quite right. a fundamental reoccurrence to these principles is necessary, but we have an opportunity to do that now prior to ratification. that we see these seeds dealt with. there may always be some, but we see too many here at present and we have the opportunity, merely with his second convention, by which the people have now been informed of its intentions, that we may see greater amendments even to the document as it now stands. that being my greatest argument and very similar to mr. madison's, only that it is done prior to ratification as opposed to after. >> thank you, sir. >> i allow -- i thank you for allowing this moment of debate. with that, we can move to the next question before p. henry so it's another question. >> i see

remain silent, while this president was shredding constitutional norms and undermining the rule of law in this country and claiming absolute power under articlet the republicans would pay a price. you look at what happened in the house races, and they won every contested race. 24 out of 24 that the cook political report said was a contested race. they outperformed in the united states senate. so they haven't paid a price yet. the only person that's paid a price has been donald trump, but i'll be curious to see what happens in georgia because there's just an all-out republican civil war in the peach state. you have him attacking the republican governor, you have attorneys running around that have been claiming to represent the president who is now saying that one of the people in the special elections is in a conspiracy with the governor of the state to keep doug collins off the ballot, that kelly loeffler shouldn't be in this runoff, that she was involved in a scam. and that's all coming from the republican side. so we'll see if -- we'll see if it depresses the vote for republicans and democrats have a shot to pick up at least one of those tw

texas's motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under article iii of the constitutions not demonstrate a judicially

on filed motion was denied for lack of standing under article three of the constitution. you can read the order on our website, c-span.org. thursday morning, the fda holds an open meeting to discuss the emergency use authorization for the moderna covid-19 vaccine. c-spant 9:00 eastern on three come online at c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> minnesota governor tim walz says distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in state hospitals could begin in 10 days if the fda approved the first batch to be sent out. health care workers joined the governor at the brie

>> under the united states constitution article one section four, you also have the 12th amendment.nd t title iii u.s. code 15 and related statutes, it's quite clear that it is the ultimate duty of the united states congress to resolve all election contests involving the presidency and for that matter under article one, section five, the house of representatives or senate election contest. so i would submit that the courts aren't prepared to handle matters of this nature on the one hand and on the other hand the courts understand that it's our job, congress is to conduct the investigation and render the final verdict. we are the ultimate judge, jury and arbiter in these kinds of disputes. >> raymond: will see how this shakes out on january 6. matt and congressman brooks comic books, thanks for being here. a new gallup poll identified president trump as the most admired man in america displacing barack obama forci te first time in 12 years. what does that indicate and what should the president do with the support moving forward? for that we turn to conservative author and filmmaker d

it was denied for standing -- for lack of standing under article three of the constitution. you can read the report on our website, at c-span.org. thursday morning, the food and drug administration holds an open meeting to discuss emergency use authorization for the moderna covid vaccine. c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> use your mobile devices and go to c-span.org for the latest video, live and on-demand, to follow the transition of power. president trump, president-elect biden, news conferences, and event coverage, at c-span.org. the minnesota governor says distribution of a coronavirus vaccine in state hospitals could begin in 10 days if the fda approves the first batches to be sent out. health care workers joined the governor and told some of their personal stories of treating people with the virus.

the reason for that the constitution it really hard to amend under article 53 quarters of the states to adopt any amendment. you think of the map of the united states on election night and the number of states that are read getting more than their fair share of the electoral college imagine three quarters of the states i would agree to do with the one - - away with their own advantage. but i cannot agree more. but i love the idea that conversations concerning libraries all over the country for the benjamin franklin society that not only talk to the people who believes what they do but people to talking to people they don't expect to agree with them what do they have in common? but that is a tremendous value. >> it is very ambitious but totally viable extension of the projects you may hear from you soon. and eventually where they reach out to take over some other projects so thank you so much if brooklyn can make gluten-free avocado toast spread across the country we can do that. >> absolutely. >> from a marketing perspective i just want to say i strongly believe the person who shapes

constitution. and you might say but under article 2 the state legislature can do whatever want no it can't what ittate legislature said democrat electors can ever go to electoral college that would be ridiculous. the frame is sefort ratifiers in state convention assume that states would follow their constitutions. when you have plenty repower general repower that's not lawless power to do whatever you want it is to do whatever is legal within the confines of the law and the state constitution. so there's a huge federal question here and then finally, some people are saying well what do you expect the united states supreme court to do? to rule that these 2.6 million or so people who put in mail-in ball louteds that their votes downgt count first of all -- we're a nation of laws. what was fraud 14 months ago shouldn't be legitimate today especially when a state violates its own constitution and those public officials and pennsylvania violate their oath to that constitution. putting that aside no that's not the job of the united states supreme court the job of the united states supreme court is to ad

response to the lawsuit came in the first sentence -- denied for lack of standing under article iii of the constitutioning that texas did not have an interest in the manner which another state conducts its elections. >> the president had repeatedly said that he wanted his case to go to the high court, particularly after he appointed a third justice, but the justices decided they didn't even want to hear the case, essentially saying that the state of texas which filed the suit had no business suing over another state's election and now mr. trump's legal options have now effectively run out. >> trevor: i'm sorry, but that is ice cold, vaccine-storing-temperatures ice cold. not only did the supreme court not even hear trump's case, they announced to everyone that they weren't going to hear it. it's bad enough when someone sends you straight to voice mail but then imagine if they went around telling everyone they did it. you see donald try to call me? you want me to an up on this, bitch? i'm about to hang up! oh, oh, he gone! to be fair to the court, this is a weird case to get because it's from texas. tex

of texas motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under article 3 of the constitution. texas has not demonstrated a cognizable interest in the manner in which other states hap handle their elections. they need to recognize the truth of what's happening here. ruth marcus wrote a brilliant op-ed. she said you have to recognize each and over one of these names. she went through every name of every person that has recognized this texas suit and because of these folks have not stepped up and recognized the preside ed j president-elect. they know there's no merit to any of the accusations being made by the president and their team. >> that's right to your point an david's point. it's not just folks in washington. there are 18 states attorney general that signed onto this. even if states across the country, there is an unwillingness to acknowledge joe biden as the president-elect of the united states. it's also interesting, you have one state challenging the election results of other states. what happened to states rights. i guess everything is different in trump era. yes, he