this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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United States | News & Politics
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The resolution was made to prevent a legal challenge. Policy is not law, it's policy, and policies can be challenged in the courts. So to avoid a potentially drawn out legal challenge, the Senate clarified their understanding of the law to avoid the whole thing.
They probably didn't need to make the resolution in order to allow McCain to run, and the judicial branch likely would've found that McCain was, in fact, eligible, such a legal suit could stall or change (i.e. in the court of public opinion) election results, hence the resolution.
Why would they fear a challenge if the parameters were clear as you say?
Why wouldn't they? Even something that seems like an open and shut case can take months or even years in court to resolve. That takes time away from campaigning, as well as likely reduced support for the accused. It's the same idea as a smear campaign.
So to avoid drama, they made that resolution so his candidacy wouldn't be questioned.
So there aren't clear parameters.
There are. We're going in circles at this point.