January, 27 2010, 03:33pm EDT
Communities of Color Listen Intently to State of the Union Address
NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous to Attend Speech and Offer Reaction
WASHINGTON
With the employment, economic and health care crisis disproportionately
impacting communities of color, African Americans will be listening
intently tonight as President Obama delivers his first State of the
Union Address. NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous will be
in the gallery this evening, and will be available for reaction to the
speech immediately following its conclusion.
In advance of the speech, below is a statement from NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous:
We are in crisis today. The greed of fat cat bankers has unleashed a
torrent of predatory lending and a trickle of permanent loan
modifications that together are turning homeowners into the homeless.
The unemployment rate for Americans of all colors is over 10 percent,
while Black and Brown American unemployment hovers above 15 percent.
The jobless rate among African American men in many cities is over 50
percent. Approximately 50 million Americans lack health insurance and
more than 50 million people in America - with children
disproportionately affected --don't get enough to eat.
The question being asked by everyone in America is how one can achieve
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness when you are not healthy
enough to go to work, cannot see a doctor, and have to decide whether
to pay your rent or a payday lender? It is obvious that Americans are
frustrated - frustrated with being unemployed while watching Wall
Street brokers and bank executives get bonuses, and frustrated that the
change they believed in has not yet occurred.
We applaud the President for the progress he has made in stabilizing
our economy and stemming massive job losses, but we will be listening
intently for the next steps. Immediately following President Obama's
speech, I will report to the NAACP's 2,200 units and begin to discuss
what our next steps will be to affect positive change in our
communities.
To schedule an interview with NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd
Jealous or members of the NAACP Staff, please call Chris Fleming at
(202) 631-0929 or (410) 458-4853.
Founded Feb. 12. 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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"It'd be a travesty for justices to delay matters further," said one legal expert.
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After about three hours of oral arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, legal experts and democracy defenders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule swiftly, with just over six months until the November election.
Trump—the presumptive Republican candidate to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, despite his 88 felony charges in four ongoing criminal cases—is arguing that presidential immunity should protect him from federal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Justices across the ideological spectrum didn't seem inclined to support Trump's broad immunity claims—which critics have said "reflect a misreading of constitutional text and history as well as this court's precedent." However, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shared examples of what it would mean if they did.
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After warning that a president could also order the occupation or closure of the Capitol or high court to prevent actions against him, CREW concluded that "the Supreme Court never should have taken this appeal up in the first place. They should rule quickly and shut these ludicrous claims down for good."
The organization was far from alone in demanding a quick decision from the nation's highest court.
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On Thursday, the arguments "got away from the central question: Is a former president immune from criminal prosecution if he tried to overthrow a presidential election, using private means and the power of his office to do so?" the Brennan Center noted. "The answer is simple: No."
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Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School who filed a brief backing prosecutors, said Sauer's concessions highlight that Trump is "not immune for the vast majority of the conduct alleged in the indictment."
Ultimately, he said, the case will go to trial "absent some external intervention—like Trump ordering [the Justice Department] to drop the charges" after having won the election.
At the same time, Sauer's backtracking might have little consequence from an electoral perspective. Further delay in a trial, which Sauer is close to achieving, is a form of victory in itself.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern pointed out that when Barrett similarly questioned Michael Dreeben, the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the case for Smith, it seemed like they "were trying to work out some compromise wherein the trial court could distinguish between official and unofficial acts, then instruct the jury not to impose criminal liability on the former."
"It was fascinating to watch Barrett nodding along as Dreeben pitched a compromise that would largely preserve Smith's January 6 prosecution but limit what the jury could hear, or at least consider," Stern added. "That, though, would take months to suss out in the trial court. More delays!"
Stern and other experts signaled that the decision likely comes down to Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, with the three liberals seemingly supporting the prosecution of Trump and the other four conservatives suggesting it is unconstitutional.
People for the American Way president Svante Myrick said in a statement that "today's argument brought both good and bad news. It was chilling to hear Donald Trump's lawyer say that staging a military coup could be considered part of a president's official duties."
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