Is RIVA Constitutional?

My birth name is Johnny Rico.

Before we jump into the Holy Week post and birthright citizenship, I wanted to take a quick look at a law Democrats are looking to pass once they come back into power: The Responsibility in Voting Act. Buckle up, because we’re going deep.

The Democrats have drafted a bill that is currently waiting for passage in the House: The Responsibility in Voting Act, or RIVA. It has a pretty simple premise: If you have voted for Donald Trump more than once in a national, presidential election (i.e., primaries don’t count), then you are barred from voting for two presidential election cycles. The bill basically argues that if you were irresponsible enough to vote for Donald Trump twice or even three times, you should get a “time out” and think about what you did.

Some legal scholars have argued that the bill is on shaky ground constitutionally speaking, but when you get into the details you actually find a lot of support for it in American history.

After all, voting is a privilege and not a right, and that has long been established in the United States. For example: If you are a felon, you lose your right to vote going forward and if you commit voter fraud enough times, you join the Republican Party. The U.S. punishes people all the time by restricting their voting rights or making them sit in the corner with the friends of Jeffrey Epstein. This is just simple, American history.

In that sense, the basis for RIVA’s voting restrictions are well-established.

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The text of the law itself.

Some legal scholars have taken issue with the language in the law itself, specifically where it says, “People who voted for Trump more than once are too stupid to function anyway.” I’ll admit, this is tough language, but New York State didn’t remove the term “oriental” from its laws when referring to Asian-Americans until the 1990s. So, suck it up.

Others have taken exception to the carveouts: If you voted for Trump, then Joe Biden, and then Trump again, your voting rights are restricted for only one presidential election and you have to unironically support Gavin Newsom.¹ This seems like a reduced punishment, but you still voted for two people who were almost 80.

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The intent of the law matters.

Here is the overall argument about RIVA that really matters to me: It makes me feel good, and that can’t be a bad thing. Some people have said that it puts too much power in the hands of Democrats, as it will effectively allow them to acquire huge majorities - largely uncontested - for years. And to that I say: So what? It’s not like there’s any downside to this legislation, or having it turned back on me. Doing good things for me and punishing people I don’t like is the whole point of government, after all.

There is that old Lord Acton quote: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It’s a good quote, but to be honest, Lord Acton was a bitch. Plus, he never met me and there is no chance I could ever be corrupted. Nor could any of the good people in government.

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My daughter has a stuffed animal that I have convinced her to call Oda Mae Brown, which is Whoopi Goldberg’s character in the movie Ghost.

Unlike the rest of this post, this is true. Happy April Fools’ day. The Holy Week post is out on Good Friday.

1. Gavin Newsom’s political career is what happens to Christian Bale’s character in American Psycho after the movie ends.