Bill Clinton warns 'The View 'why Americans 'should be worried,' wants Supreme Court to 'rediscover the Constitution'
Bill Clinton and James Patterson joined The View to promote their new book.
Clinton warned the audience why they "should be worried" about America's political future.
He also said that he hopes the Supreme Court will "rediscover the Constitution."Former President Bill Clinton sounded a political alarm during his latest appearance on The View.
The 78-year-old Democrat and author James Patterson appeared Thursday morning on the talk show to promote their new novel The First Gentleman, though the conversation naturally turned to real-world politics amid controversial policies and patterns of conduct under President Donald Trump's Republican administration.
"We need to talk about the future," panelist Sunny Hostin told Clinton, before observing that she feels Trump is "working to dismantle, in my view, our foundational institutions" through his conflicts with American universities, deportations, and his tumultuous dealings with judges in the legal system. "Are you confident that the courts will hold, and what concerns you most about what he's doing now?"
"That the courts won't hold until we have our midterm elections," Clinton replied, going on to reference the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador man whose "deportation violated a U.S. immigration judge's order in 2019 that shielded Abrego Garcia from expulsion to his native country," per the Associated Press.
"The guy is still there in jail, so I'm worried about that, and you should be worried about that. Whatever your politics [are]," Clinton said. "Because, although I have a sneaking suspicion, if our party wins the White House in the next election, there will be a hallelujah moment and the Supreme Court will rediscover the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and limits."
Clinton said he'll "be happy if that happens because all of us should operate under guard rails," and that "the whole purpose of the Constitution was to repeal royal governance, unaccountable governance, that no Democrat or Republican can be without accountability."
Later in the discussion, Joy Behar asked Patterson if the pair wrote The First Gentleman hoping that "life would imitate art," seeing as the book revolves around a female president and her spouse, mirroring a scenario that would've resulted for Clinton if his wife and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would've won the presidency in her race against Trump.
"I wanted the job," he told the cohosts. "It's the only political job I ever wanted that I didn't get."Whoopi Goldberg then jumped in to offer a bit of hope: "There's still time, nothing is off the table, that's what I say."
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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WHITTIER, Alaska (AP) — They were born on U.S. soil, are entitled to U.S. passports and allowed to serve in the U.S. military, but 11 people in a small Alaska town are facing criminal charges after they tried to participate in a fundamental part of American democracy: voting. The defendants, who range in age from their 20s to their 60s, were all born in American Samoa — the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship at birth. Prosecutors say they falsely claimed American citizenship when registering or trying to vote. The cases are highlighting another side of the debate over exaggerated allegations of voting by noncitizens, as well as what it means to be born on American soil, as President Donald Trump tries to redefine birthright citizenship by ending it for children of people who are in the country illegally. Here's what to know about the prosecutions in Alaska and the status of American Samoans when it comes to voting. What is the Alaska case about? The investigation began after Tupe Smith, a mom in the cruise-ship stop of Whittier, decided to run for a vacant seat on the regional school board in 2023. She was unopposed and won with about 95% of the vote. That's when she learned she wasn't allowed to hold public office because she wasn't a U.S. citizen. Smith says she knew she wasn't allowed to vote in federal elections but thought she could vote in local or state races, and that she never would have voted if she knew it wasn't legal. She says she told elections workers that she was a U.S. national, not a citizen, and was told to check a box saying she was a citizen anyway. About 10 months later, troopers returned to Whittier and issued court summonses to her husband and nine other American Samoans. While Smith appeals the charges against her, the state filed charges against the others in April. The state argues that Smith's false claim of citizenship was intentional, and her claim to the contrary was undercut by the clear language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022. The forms said that if the applicant did not answer yes to being over 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, 'do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.' Why can't American Samoans vote in the U.S.? The 14th Amendment to the Constitution promises U.S. citizenship to those born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction. American Samoa has been U.S. soil since 1900, when several of its chiefs ceded their land and vowed allegiance to the United States. For that reason, Smith's lawyers argue, American Samoans must be recognized as U.S. citizens by birthright, and they should be allowed to vote in the U.S. But the islands' residents have never been so considered — Congress declined to extend birthright citizenship to American Samoa in the 1930s — and many American Samoans don't want it. They worry that it would disrupt their cultural practices, including communal land ownership. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited that in 2021 when it declined to extend automatic citizenship to those born in American Samoa, saying it would be wrong to force citizenship on those who don't want it. The Supreme Court declined to review the decision. People born in all other U.S. territories — Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam — are U.S. citizens. They can vote in U.S. elections if they move to a state. American Samoans can participate in local elections on American Samoa, including for a nonvoting representative in Congress. Have other states prosecuted American Samoans for trying to vote? Supporters of the American Samoans in Whittier have called the prosecutions unprecedented. One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, suggested authorities are going after 'low-hanging fruit' in the absence of evidence that illegal immigrants frequently cast ballots in U.S. elections. Even state-level investigations have found voting by noncitizens to be exceptionally rare. In Oregon, officials inadvertently registered nearly 200 American Samoan residents to vote when they got their driver's licenses under the state's motor-voter law. Of those, 10 cast ballots in an election, according to the Oregon Secretary of State's office, but officials found they did not intend to break the law and no crime was committed. In Hawaii, one resident who was born in American Samoa, Sai Timoteo, ran for the state Legislature in 2018 before learning she wasn't allowed to hold public office or vote. She also avoided charges. Is there any legislation to fix this? American Samoans can become U.S. citizens — a requirement not just for voting, but for certain jobs, such as those that require a security clearance. However, the process can be costly and cumbersome. Given that many oppose automatic citizenship, the territory's nonvoting representative in Congress, Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, has introduced legislation that would streamline the naturalization of American Samoans who do wish to become U.S. citizens. The bill would allow U.S. nationals in outlying U.S. territories — that is, American Samoa — to be naturalized without relocating to one of the U.S. states. It would also allow the Department of Homeland Security to waive personal interviews of U.S. nationals as part of the process and to reduce fees for them. ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska, and Johnson from Seattle.
