George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley compared in a Tuesday blog post Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland’s effort to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the ballot to then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s effort to ban Big Gulps.
Raskin told CNN host Dana Bash on Monday that he was working with Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell of California and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida to revive legislation that would declare Trump an insurrectionist and disqualify him from running for office under the 14th Amendment after the Supreme Court reversed Colorado’s Supreme Court ruling blocking him from the ballot.
Turley compared Raskin’s effort to revive the legislation to Bloomberg’s 2012 effort to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces from being sold at several locations.
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“For these members, citizens cannot be trusted with this power as Trump tops national polls as the leading choice for the presidency,” Turley wrote on his blog. “It is the political version of the Big Gulp law, voters like consumers have to be protected against their own unhealthy choices.”
Bloomberg’s ban was struck down in a 2013 court decision that ruled that the Board of Health lacked the authority to enforce the measure. The New York State Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling in 2014.
Turley said Raskin’s bill would target not just Trump, but other Republicans, as well.
“Raskin’s participation in this effort is crushingly ironic. In 2016, he sought to block certification of the 2016 election under the very same law as violent protests were occurring before the inauguration,” Turley wrote in his post. “The prior bills were sweeping and included members who did not engage in any violent acts (no member has been charged with such violence or even incitement) but merely opposed certification.”
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“Raskin is succeeding in one respect. He and his colleagues have bulldozed any moral high ground after January 6th,” Turley wrote. “Most of us condemned the riot on that day as a desecration of our constitutional process. Yet, the Democrats have responded with the most anti-democratic efforts to prevent voters from exercising their rights in the upcoming election.”
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