Republicans are planning to neuter a cornerstone of our United States Constitutional Republic… the rule of law.
They’re not being quiet about it, you don’t even have to listen that hard.
The words are easy to understand.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is saying those words out loud.
The impact of actions described by those words, if implemented, is nuanced and should be raising alarms within every American.
We should all be able to agree that any person filmed on the steps of or inside the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 during a violent attack is liable for prosecution. They could be charged for an offense as minor as trespassing.
It should be impossible to deny that fact based on thousands of hours of video evidence. Yet, millions of Americans do deny it. You are inarguably wrong if you are one of those people.
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
One of those people is also Mike Johnson. Mr. Johnson has recently been lifted from obscurity to a position second in line to the President of the United States. He is a devoted election denier. Johnson was reportedly instrumental in planning rejection of electoral votes consistent with the will of the American people with the ultimate goal of reinstating Donald Trump to the presidency he (Trump) lost.
As the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike wields enormous power.
First came the clownish circus that was the Republican installation of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker and then his nearly immediate removal. The ensuing installation of Mike Johnson as Speaker appeased the most radical right wing Republicans. Johnson’s selection is a sure sign the influence of Donald Trump has eliminated nearly every moderate Republican from Congress and elevated those most willing to kiss the ring.
Promise to Publicly Release January 6 Videos
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy had released some of the security video before, handing it exclusively to then Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson.
On November 17, 2023, Johnson announced his plans to release 44,000 more hours of Capitol January 6 security footage to the public.
This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson statement Nov. 17, 2023
Johnson had made the promise above to far right members of his party as he was campaigning to replace Kevin McCarthy. One of the primary people who orchestrated the circus of voting to install Kevin McCarthy, the change of rules to make it easy to oust a Speaker, and then the removal of McCarthy from his post was quick to thank Johnson.
You won’t always agree with @SpeakerJohnson – but know this:
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz – Twitter (“X”) – November 17, 2023
HE WON’T LIE
If he says he is going to do something, he is going to do it.
Thank you for keeping your word on the J6 tapes, Mr. Speaker. It is a refreshing thing in the Swamp of DC.
Mike Johnson is even further right than the members he placated with the video release promise. Based solely on his role in pushing for Mike Pence illegally reject the electoral votes and selecting the fake electors, it’s clear releasing this footage was a personal goal for him. Other public evidence indicative of Johnson’s radicalism is best left for another time.
Blurring Faces of Criminals
Mike Johnson appeared at a December 5, 2023 press conference. Here’s his answer to a question about the January 6 footage and his decision to blur the faces of people participating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
As you know, we have to blur some of the faces of people who participated in the events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ and to have other concerns and problems.
House Speaker Mike Johnson – December 5, 2023 – Above quote begins 11 seconds into the clip
That’s the crux of it. Republicans led by Mike Johnson are actively editing security footage recorded during a violent attack on our own Capitol to protect the perpetrators of that attack from prosecution for their crimes committed on January 6.
Republicans in Congress profess the Department of Justice will purposefully prosecute people who aren’t deserving of being charged and perhaps tried by a jury of their peers. Further, they have anointed themselves arbiters of justice.
The goal of stripping the credibility of the judicial system is evident in Republican language, heavily influenced by the need to curry the favor of the former president. “Disband the FBI”, “Witch hunt”, “Rigged system”, disparagements directed personally at people prosecuting alleged crimes are intended to erode confidence and promote hate for the judicial system.
Those words have been spoken often enough since 2015 or so and repeated around the clock by media outlets and on social media and even conversation every single day that the unannounced platform of one of the two major political parties in OUR country is to dismantle the justice system.
Ironically, many of the people involved in this effort identify themselves as “Constitution originalists”. Nothing could be further from the truth, selection of snippets of the U.S. Constitution is not “originalism”. Nor is ignoring it entirely.
The Constitutional Judicial Process
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America – The Preamble to the Constitution
The Preamble lays out the framework of our Republic. The Constitution is a document that was written to be revised, so it gets more specific about our rights and responsibilities.
Article III Section 2 of the Constitution guarantees that every person accused of wrongdoing has the right to a fair trial before a competent judge and a jury of one’s peers.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Constitution of the United States – Founding Fathers
The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution provide additional protections for those accused of a crime.
- A guarantee that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law
- Protection against being tried for the same crime twice (“double jeopardy”)
- The right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury
- The right to cross-examine witnesses, and to call witnesses to support their case
- The right to legal representation
- The right to avoid self-incrimination
- Protection from excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments
The realization of the potential of the 14th Amendment to serve its intended purpose will always be a moving target that needs support from legislation and enforcement of regulations. Not everyone will like all those regulations, but we accept them as part of the price of enjoying the freedoms and privileges of living in the United States.
Every person on all the video footage in question is afforded all of those rights.
We, the People have the right to expect our laws to be enforced without interference by elected officials abusing the power by censoring evidence.
Research and Supporting Information
- Mike Johnson plans to release thousands of hours of Jan. 6 footage – NY Daily News
- Johnson, 44,000 hours of Jan. 6 footage available to public – Associated Press
- Constitution Annotated – United States Congress