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Letter: Insulting his constituents, Sen. Lee continues to embarrass himself, and all Utahns

(Susan Walsh | AP) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questions FBI Director Christopher Wray during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.

(Susan Walsh | AP) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questions FBI Director Christopher Wray during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.

Sen. Mike Lee, self proclaimed constitutional scholar, doesn’t think Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which in general bars those who engaged in or aided an insurrection from serving in government offices — applies to the office of the president.

Under his reading of the amendment, is the president above the law and not an “officer of the United States?” Could Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, have run for president after the Confederates surrendered and the Civil War ended?

Of course, Sen. Lee is entitled to his opinion. But instead of stating it with grace, and respecting the fact that many actual constitutional scholars and former federal judges, including very conservative ones, have opined that Donald Trump is in fact ineligible to be on the ballot in 2024, or stating that the Supreme Court needs to resolve the issue, Sen. Lee smugly insults those who read the 14th Amendment differently than he does as “liberals who can but refuse to read.”

This, despite the fact that many of the challenges around the country seeking to keep Trump off the ballot have been instigated by Republicans!

What happened to civility in politics? What happened to the idea that once elected as a senator, you represent all of your constituents, not just the ones who voted for you or donated to your campaign?

Sen. Lee continues to embarrass himself, and all Utahns, with his cavalier arrogance and disrespectful attitude.

Ira Rubinfeld, Springdale

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