Hullabaloo

Sunday, March 27, 2011

 
The enemy of his enemy

by digby

It really doesn't get any more unconstitutional than this. Think Progress asked conservative presidential candidate Herman Cain, "Would you be comfortable appointing a Muslim, either in your cabinet or as a federal judge?" Cain replied:

"No, I would not. And here's why. There is this creeping attempt, there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government. It does not belong in our government. This is what happened in Europe. And little by little, to try and be politically correct, they made this little change, they made this little change. And now they've got a social problem that they don't know what to do with hardly.

The question that was asked that 'raised some questions' and, as my grandfather said, 'I does not care, I feel the way I feel.'"

Setting aside how asinine and ridiculous his "feelings" are, he's simply not allowed by the US Constitution to act on them. This is not in dispute. Article VI, paragraph 3 states:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

You just can't refuse to appoint people on the basis of their religion without changing the constitution, which explicitly precludes doing that.

Ok, so this is a 7th tier GOP candidate so who care, right? Well, Steve Benen points out that he isn't unique in this promise:

In the fall of 2007, Romney said he would not consider Muslim Americans for his cabinet. Indeed, he said this more than once, in front of plenty of witnesses.

It's just as stupid coming from him. but you have to really admire the chutzpah of a Mormon doing it. I guess he figures the enemy of his enemy is his friend.


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digby 3/27/2011 04:30:00 PM