Features
As the ‘Safe Harbour’ Deadline Looms!
DONALD TRUMP’S LOSING BATTLE . . .
by Selvam Canagaratna
“There is something so showy about desperation, it takes hard wits to see it’s a grandiose form of funk.”
– Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart (1938).
“President Donald Trump’s effort to snatch a second term through a series of state and federal court challenges has been flaming out for weeks. Now, the calendar has all but extinguished it,” wrote Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney in their piece in Politico magazine.
Dec. 8 is the so-called ‘safe harbour’ date for the presidential election, a milestone established in federal law for states to conclude any disputes over the results. Trump’s failure to gain traction in litigation, with his lawyers and allies failing to block crucial states from declaring Joe Biden the winner, means the ‘safe harbour’ deadline stands as another potentially insurmountable reason for the courts to decline to intervene.
Trump’s legal team publicly says the ‘safe harbour’ deadline is meaningless and they’ll simply disregard it. Set by a 140-year-old statute, the date isn’t enshrined in the Constitution, they say. But the campaign’s legal filings tell another story, as Trump’s lawyers pressed courts for urgent action ahead of the deadline midnight on Tuesday and warned of irreparable consequences if they don’t.
The last time a presidential election was resolved at the Supreme Court, the ‘safe harbour’ deadline proved pivotal. And several legal actions seem to be hurtling toward a potential resolution on Tuesday — including a Pennsylvania dispute where Justice Samuel Alito initially asked for responses by Wednesday but decided to expedite further to Tuesday amid speculation about the ‘safe harbour’ deadline.
During the 2000 dispute between George W. Bush and Al Gore, as the court’s majority essentially awarded the presidency to Bush, the justices cited the looming deadline as a reason Florida could not initiate a new, manual recount.
“The majority treated the ‘safe harbour’ very seriously,” Ohio State University law professor Ned Foley said. “That’s why there was no remand to give Florida another chance at recounting.”
Indeed, the very timing of the high court’s hasty resolution of the Bush v. Gore case seemed driven by the ‘safe-harbour’ date. The justices heard arguments the day before it and decided on the very day, which was established in an 1887 statute intended to prevent uncertainty about the winner of the presidential election.
“In light of the inevitable legal challenges and ensuing appeals to the Supreme Court of Florida and petitions for certiorari to this Court, the entire recounting process could not possibly be completed by that date,” the high court wrote in that closed the books on the 2000 election.
As Trump attempts to bludgeon his way to a second term, judges and lawyers for both sides have also treated the ‘safe-harbour’ deadline as a cause for urgency. That’s in part because states whose results haven’t been certified by Tuesday risk having Congress disregard their electoral votes.
Trump keeps vowing that he intends to take his legal battle to the Supreme Court, but with the key date arriving Tuesday he has yet to present to the justices a series of cases he insists could swing enough electoral votes to hand him the election. At the moment, though, the justices have before them only a couple of election challenges stemming from Pennsylvania, with mere suggestions that cases from other states will make their way to the high court.
In the meantime, Trump’s allies have increasingly acknowledged their losing legal hand.
Trump has largely turned his attention away from the legal process and toward a political push to pressure Republican allies in state houses and Congress to subvert Biden’s victory. The shift to this similarly quixotic effort arrives amid an increasingly dire set of circumstances for Trump.
His top legal surrogate, Rudy Giuliani, has been hospitalized with Covid-19. Judges appointed by presidents of both parties have skewered Trump’s legal rationale, and state legislative leaders, including Republicans, have disavowed Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results. And many of Trump’s own aides have begun looking past his presidency and toward a post-Trump Washington.
These developments have all underscored a reality that seems to be sinking in inside Trump’s orbit: It’s over.
“The people have spoken,” Judge Linda Parker, a federal jurist from the Eastern District of Michigan, wrote in a that stung Trump allies for failing at multiple levels to present a legitimate case for overturning the election results.
In Monday’s opinion, Parker mentioned the looming ‘safe-harbour’ deadline and said she was unwilling to overturn a certification already signed back on Nov. 23, two days before the suit she ruled on was filed.
“The Governor has sent the slate of Presidential Electors to the Archivist of the United States to confirm the votes for the successful candidate,” wrote Parker, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “This case represents well the phrase: ‘This ship has sailed.’”
And a federal judge in Georgia, George W. Bush appointee Timothy Batten, threw out a lawsuit brought by GOP electors — represented by Trump ally Sidney Powell — from the bench on Monday, underscoring the flimsiness of the case they brought.
The ‘safe harbour’ deadline is actually more of a legal jumble than it would appear. Legal experts emphasized that it’s far from an expiration date on Trump’s legal challenges, and some are likely to linger, at least until Dec. 14, when the Electoral College is set to cast the formal vote for president.
In Bush v. Gore, the justices seemed to acknowledge that the date wasn’t a drop-dead deadline, but they said the will of the Florida Legislature to avail the state of the ‘safe harbour’ provision could not be frustrated by conflicting orders from the state’s courts.
Some still clinging to what they see as glimmers of hope for Trump’s legal quest note that the Tuesday ‘safe-harbour’ deadline is not dictated directly by the Constitution, but is set by , the Electoral Count Act.
“The ONLY Electoral College deadline specifically required by the Constitution is noon on January 20, at which point Trump’s first term officially ends,” , director of the Amistad Project, which has led some of the pro-Trump legal actions in court.
Others say the century-old law, prompted by the 1876 election standoff between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden, is hopelessly murky.
“What we know for sure: these guys took a decade to write a law that nobody can read to fix a problem that it didn’t really fix,” former Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur .
The law says that Congress will treat as “conclusive” any certification of electors resolved under the state’s established processes by the ‘safe-harbour’ date. However, while Congress is supposed to follow the statute, there may be no way to force it to.
“It’s not self-executing,” Foley said. “I can’t envision a court trying to force Congress to obey the command that seems to be in this [law.] It is purporting to bind Congress, but when it comes down to it I think Congress is the only entity that can enforce this. It depends on the good faith of Congress.”
But with court fights looking increasingly grim for Trump, that seems to be one scenario the President and his allies are at least considering embracing.
Last week, Trump praised Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) who indicated he intends to challenge Biden’s presidential electors when they are counted by Congress on Jan. 6. Several other GOP House members have lined up to do the same, though even that effort won’t get out of the starting gate without a Senate sponsor. And even with one, the math is virtually impossible for Trump.
A lawyer working with Powell in the Michigan case rebuffed by the judge Monday, Gregory Rohl, dismissed the decision as “cut and paste.” He told POLITICO he still expects a high court showdown over the issues in that state and others.
“We always envisioned that SCOTUS would eventually weigh in on the voter fraud issue across the country,” Rohl said. “I am prepared to proceed forward and can assure all voters of our steadfast determination to maintain the integrity of our democratic process no matter what corruption attempts to taint it.”
Giuliani ignored the courtroom defeats Monday, apparently sticking to a Trump campaign line that Powell’s court setbacks are of no consequence to the campaign’s official work. But the Trump campaign’s own legal efforts aren’t doing much better. On Friday suffered setbacks and outright rejections in county, state and federal courts across the country. Trump and his allies have now lost dozens of challenges at nearly every level.
On Monday afternoon, the maestro of Trump’s legal crusade was still at Georgetown University Hospital, according to a person familiar with the situation, who said Giuliani was there as a precautionary measure.
Two people who spoke to Giuliani on Monday said he was fine and making calls. The campaign is still pressing ahead with legal actions even as they run up on deadlines, but it’s unclear when Giuliani will be able to appear in person again or if he will call into upcoming hearings.
Trump said his first call of the day was with Giuliani, and described him as “doing very well” and without a fever.
“He actually called me early this morning, he was the first call I got,” Trump said after a presentation for the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dan Gable in the Oval Office. “Greatest mayor in the history of New York and what he’s doing now is more important, and he will admit that.”
Describing his own political prognosis, Trump seemed to pair his usual swagger with a touch of realism about the grim legal picture for his campaign: “You know, in politics, I won 2, so I’m 2-and-0. And that’s pretty good, too,” Trump said, before adding: “But we’ll see how that turns out.”
Author
- News Advertiesment
See Kapruka’s top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Flowers, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka’s unique online services such as Money Remittence,News, Courier/Delivery, Food Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka.
Author
-
There’s an ill more dangerous and pervasive than the Coronavirus that’s currently sweeping Sri Lanka. That is the fear to express one’s convictions. Across the public sector of the country in particular many persons holding high office are stringently regulating and controlling the voices of their consciences and this bodes ill for all and the country.
The corrupting impact of fear was discussed in this column a couple of weeks ago when dealing with the military coup in Myanmar. It stands to the enduring credit of ousted Myanmarese Head of Government Aung San Suu Kyi that she, perhaps for the first time in the history of modern political thought, singled out fear, and not power, as the principal cause of corruption within the individual; powerful or otherwise.
To be sure, power corrupts but the corrupting impact of fear is graver and more devastating. For instance, the fear in a person holding ministerial office or in a senior public sector official, that he would lose position and power as a result of speaking out his convictions and sincere beliefs on matters of the first importance, would lead to a country’s ills going unaddressed and uncorrected.
Besides, the individual concerned would be devaluing himself in the eyes of all irrevocably and revealing himself to be a person who would be willing to compromise his moral integrity for petty worldly gain or a ‘mess of pottage’. This happens all the while in Lankan public life. Some of those who have wielded and are wielding immense power in Sri Lanka leave very much to be desired from these standards.
It could be said that fear has prevented Sri Lanka from growing in every vital respect over the decades and has earned for itself the notoriety of being a directionless country.
All these ills and more are contained in the current controversy in Sri Lanka over the disposal of the bodies of Covid victims, for example. The Sri Lankan polity has no choice but to abide by scientific advice on this question. Since authorities of the standing of even the WHO have declared that the burial of the bodies of those dying of Covid could not prove to be injurious to the wider public, the Sri Lankan health authorities could go ahead and sanction the burying of the bodies concerned. What’s preventing the local authorities from taking this course since they claim to be on the side of science? Who or what are they fearing? This is the issue that’s crying out to be probed and answered.
Considering the need for absolute truthfulness and honesty on the part of all relevant persons and quarters in matters such as these, the latter have no choice but to resign from their positions if they are prevented from following the dictates of their consciences. If they are firmly convinced that burials could bring no harm, they are obliged to take up the position that burials should be allowed.
If any ‘higher authority’ is preventing them from allowing burials, our ministers and officials are conscience-bound to renounce their positions in protest, rather than behave compromisingly and engage in ‘double think’ and ‘double talk’. By adopting the latter course they are helping none but keeping the country in a state of chronic uncertainty, which is a handy recipe for social instabiliy and division.
In the Sri Lankan context, the failure on the part of the quarters that matter to follow scientific advice on the burials question could result in the aggravation of Islamophobia, or hatred of the practitioners of Islam, in the country. Sri Lanka could do without this latter phobia and hatred on account of its implications for national stability and development. The 30 year war against separatist forces was all about the prevention by military means of ‘nation-breaking’. The disastrous results for Sri Lanka from this war are continuing to weigh it down and are part of the international offensive against Sri Lanka in the UNHCR.
However, Islamophobia is an almost world wide phenomenon. It was greatly strengthened during Donald Trump’s presidential tenure in the US. While in office Trump resorted to the divisive ruling strategy of quite a few populist authoritarian rulers of the South. Essentially, the manoeuvre is to divide and rule by pandering to the racial prejudices of majority communities.
It has happened continually in Sri Lanka. In the initial post-independence years and for several decades after, it was a case of some populist politicians of the South whipping-up anti-Tamil sentiments. Some Tamil politicians did likewise in respect of the majority community. No doubt, both such quarters have done Sri Lanka immeasurable harm. By failing to follow scientific advice on the burial question and by not doing what is right, Sri Lanka’s current authorities are opening themselves to the charge that they are pandering to religious extremists among the majority community.
The murderous, destructive course of action adopted by some extremist sections among Muslim communities world wide, including of course Sri Lanka, has not earned the condemnation it deserves from moderate Muslims who make-up the preponderant majority in the Muslim community. It is up to moderate opinion in the latter collectivity to come out more strongly and persuasively against religious extremists in their midst. It will prove to have a cementing and unifying impact among communities.
It is not sufficiently appreciated by governments in the global South in particular that by voicing for religious and racial unity and by working consistently towards it, they would be strengthening democratic development, which is an essential condition for a country’s growth in all senses.
A ‘divided house’ is doomed to fall; this is the lesson of history. ‘National security’ cannot be had without human security and peaceful living among communities is central to the latter. There cannot be any ‘double talk’ or ‘politically correct’ opinions on this question. Truth and falsehood are the only valid categories of thought and speech.
Those in authority everywhere claiming to be democratic need to adopt a scientific outlook on this issue as well. Studies conducted on plural societies in South Asia, for example, reveal that the promotion of friendly, cordial ties among communities invariably brings about healing among estranged groups and produces social peace. This is the truth that is waiting to be acted upon.
Author
By Sanjeewa Jayaweera
It was on 3rd January 1972 that our family arrived in Karachi from Moscow. Our departure from Moscow had been delayed for a few weeks due to the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It ended on 16th December 1971. After that, international flights were not permitted for some time.
The contrast between Moscow and Karachi was unbelievable. First and foremost, Moscow’s temperature was near minus 40 degrees centigrade, while in Karachi, it was sunny and a warm 28 degrees centigrade. However, what struck us most was the extreme warmth with which the airport authorities greeted our family. As my father was a diplomat, we were quickly ushered to the airport’s VIP Lounge. We were in transit on our way to Rawalpindi, the airport serving the capital of Islamabad.
We quickly realized that the word “we are from Sri Lanka” opened all doors just as saying “open sesame” gained entry to Aladdin’s cave! The broad smile, extreme courtesy, and genuine warmth we received from the Pakistani people were unbelievable.
This was all to do with Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike’s decision to allow Pakistani aircraft to land in Colombo to refuel on the way to Dhaka in East Pakistan during the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It was a brave decision by Mrs Bandaranaike (Mrs B), and the successive governments and Sri Lanka people are still enjoying the fruits of it. Pakistan has been a steadfast and loyal supporter of our country. They have come to our assistance time and again in times of great need when many have turned their back on us. They have indeed been an “all-weather” friend of our country.
Getting back to 1972, I was an early beneficiary of Pakistani people’s love for Sri Lankans. I failed the entrance exam to gain entry to the only English medium school in Islamabad! However, when I met the Principal, along with my father, he said, “Sanjeewa, although you failed the entrance exam, I will this time make an exception as Sri Lankans are our dear friends.” After that, the joke around the family dinner table was that I owed my education in Pakistan to Mrs B!
At school, my brother and I were extended a warm welcome and always greeted “our good friends from Sri Lanka.” I felt when playing cricket for our college; our runs were cheered more loudly than of others.
One particular incident that I remember well was when the Embassy received a telex from the Foreign inistry. It requested that our High Commissioner seek an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Zulifikar Ali Bhutto (ZB), and convey a message from Mrs B. The message requested that an urgent shipment of rice be dispatched to Sri Lanka as there would be an imminent rice shortage. As the Ambassador was not in the station, the responsibility devolved on my father.
It usually takes about a week or more to get an audience with the Prime Minister (PM) of a foreign country due to their busy schedule. However, given the urgency, my father spoke to the Foreign Ministry’s Permanent Sectary, who fortunately was our neighbour and sought an urgent appointment. My father received a call from the PM’s secretary around 10 P.M asking him to come over to the PM’s residence. My father met ZB around midnight. ZB was about to retire to bed and, as such, was in his pyjamas and gown enjoying a cigar! He had greeted my father and had asked, “Mr Jayaweera, what can we do for great friend Madam Bandaranaike?. My father conveyed the message from Colombo and quietly mentioned that there would be riots in the country if there is no rice!
ZB had immediately got the Food Commissioner of Pakistan on the line and said, “I want a shipload of rice to be in Colombo within the next 72 hours!” The Food Commissioner reverted within a few minutes, saying that nothing was available and the last export shipment had left the port only a few hours ago to another country. ZB had instructed to turn the ship around and send it to Colombo. This despite protests from the Food Commissioner about terms and conditions of the Letter of Credit prohibiting non-delivery. Sri Lanka got its delivery of rice!
The next was the visit of Mrs B to Pakistan. On arrival in Rawalpindi airport, she was given a hero’s welcome, which Pakistan had previously only offered to President Gaddafi of Libya, who financially backed Pakistan with his oil money. That day, I missed school and accompanied my parents to the airport. On our way, we witnessed thousands of people had gathered by the roadside to welcome Mrs B.
When we walked to the airport’s tarmac, thousands of people were standing in temporary stands waving Sri Lanka and Pakistan flags and chanting “Sri Lanka Pakistan Zindabad.” The noise emanating from the crowd was as loud and passionate as the cheering that the Pakistani cricket team received during a test match. It was electric!
I believe she was only the second head of state given the privilege of addressing both assemblies of Parliament. The other being Gaddafi. There was genuine affection from Mrs B amongst the people of Pakistan.
I always remember the indefatigable efforts of Mr Abdul Haffez Kardar, a cabinet minister and the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board. From around 1973 onwards, he passionately championed Sri Lanka’s cause to be admitted as a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and granted test status. Every year, he would propose at the ICC’s annual meeting, but England and Australia’s veto kept us out until 1981.
I always felt that our Cricket Board made a mistake by not inviting Pakistan to play our inaugural test match. We should have appreciated Mr Kardar and Pakistan’s efforts. In 1974 the Pakistan board invited our team for a tour involving three test matches and a few first-class games. Most of those who played in our first test match was part of that tour, and no doubt gained significant exposure playing against a highly talented Pakistani team.
Several Pakistani greats were part of the Pakistan and India team that played a match soon after the Central Bank bomb in Colombo to prove that it was safe to play cricket in Colombo. It was a magnificent gesture by both Pakistan and India. Our greatest cricket triumph was in Pakistan when we won the World Cup in 1996. I am sure the players and those who watched the match on TV will remember the passionate support our team received that night from the Pakistani crowd. It was like playing at home!
I also recall reading about how the Pakistani government air freighted several Multi Barrell artillery guns and ammunition to Sri Lanka when the A rmy camp in Jaffna was under severe threat from the LTTE. This was even more important than the shipload of rice that ZB sent. This was crucial as most other countries refused to sell arms to our country during the war.
Time and again, Pakistan has steadfastly supported our country’s cause at the UNHCR. No doubt this year, too, their diplomats will work tirelessly to assist our country.
We extend a warm welcome to Mr Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is a truly inspirational individual who was undoubtedly an excellent cricketer. Since retirement from cricket, he has decided to get involved in politics, and after several years of patiently building up his support base, he won the last parliamentary elections. I hope that just as much as he galvanized Sri Lankan cricketers, his political journey would act as a catalyst for people like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to get involved in politics. Cricket has been called a “gentleman’s game.” Whilst politics is far from it!.
Author
Believe me, seeing certain videos, on social media, depicting action, on the dance floor, at some of these entertainment venues, got me wondering whether this Coronavirus pandemic is REAL!
To those having a good time, at these particular venues, and, I guess, the management, as well, what the world is experiencing now doesn’t seem to be their concerned.
Obviously, such irresponsible behaviour could create more problems for those who are battling to halt the spread of Covid-19, and the new viriant of Covid, in our part of the world.
The videos, on display, on social media, show certain venues, packed to capacity – with hardly anyone wearing a mask, and social distancing…only a dream..
How can one think of social distancing while gyrating, on a dance floor, that is over crowded!
If this trend continues, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Coronavirus makes its presence felt…at such venues.
And, then, what happens to the entertainment scene, and those involved in this field, especially the musicians? No work, whatsoever!
Lots of countries have closed nightclubs, and venues, where people gather, in order to curtail the spread of this deadly virus that has already claimed the lives of thousands.
Thailand did it and the country is still having lots of restrictions, where entertainment is concerned, and that is probably the reason why Thailand has been able to control the spread of the Coronavirus.
With a population of over 69 million, they have had (so far), a little over 25,000 cases, and 83 deaths, while we, with a population of around 21 million, have over 80,000 cases, and more than 450 deaths.
I’m not saying we should do away with entertainment – totally – but we need to follow a format, connected with the ‘new normal,’ where masks and social distancing are mandatory requirements at these venues. And, dancing, I believe, should be banned, at least temporarily, as one can’t maintain the required social distance, while on the dance floor, especially after drinks.
Police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana keeps emphasising, on TV, radio, and in the newspapers, the need to adhere to the health regulations, now in force, and that those who fail to do so would be penalised.
He has also stated that plainclothes officers would move around to apprehend such offenders.
Perhaps, he should instruct his officers to pay surprise visits to some of these entertainment venues.
He would certainly have more than a bus load of offenders to be whisked off for PCR/Rapid Antigen tests!
I need to quote what Dr. H.T. Wickremasinghe said in his article, published in The Island of Tuesday, February 16th, 2021:
“…let me conclude, while emphasising the need to continue our general public health measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowded gatherings, to reduce the risk of contact with an infected person.
“There is no science to beat common sense.”
But…do some of our folks have this thing called COMMON SENSE!
