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Robert Barnes@RobertBarnes

November 21, 2020

State Election Contest Exemplar

FULTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT

VOTER 1,

Plaintiff,

v.
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, in his official
capacity as Secretary of State of the State
of Georgia,

Defendant.

ELECTION CONTEST COMPLAINT

Introduction
1. Plaintiffs only seek one remedy: an honest vote, honestly counted, with lawful ballots. The means to achieve this remedy is equally simple: an independently confirmed, observed signature-match-check of the absentee ballot envelopes to the pre-ballot voter’s signature in the voter file, as required by law, a monitored hand recount to assure an accurate vote count, and audit of the poll books to confirm we have the same number of ballots as voters, and no more, nor no less.
2. As acknowledged by leading practitioners and procedural guidebooks, a re-canvass and audit necessarily includes an independently confirmed, independently observed signature-match-check of the absentee ballot envelopes to the voter file, a protective procedure also advised by independent, bi-partisan blue ribbon panels and Congressional commissions, such as the Best Practices manual coauthored by the Election Integrity Project and the guideline publications of the Congressionally commissioned, United States Election Assistance Commission.
3. Understanding this, the Secretary of State ordered both an audit and a recanvass at the time of ordering the recount.
4. Unfortunately, the counties failed to conduct either the audit or the recanvass, and no independently confirmed, observed signature-match-check occurred. Notably, the counties refused pre-election requests to have an observer present when the signatures were matched to confirm the signature-match-check conformed to the law.
5. Compounding this problem, the manual recount prevents observers from seeing the ballots being counted to such a degree that some monitors had to bring binoculars to try to see what was on the ballot being counted.
6. Indeed, this conforms to a larger pattern, as during a critical ballot counting time period in Fulton County, Republican Party observers were told they could go home because no more ballot counting would occur, but then ballots were surreptitiously counted in the dark of night.
7. This is not the way to gain the confidence in the vote counting process necessary for the country to have confidence in the coming certification of the vote for the Presidency of the most powerful, and democratically governed, nation on earth.
8. The remedy plaintiffs seek is simple: no certification of the election for the Presidential electors from Georgia unless and until the counties conduct an independently observed, monitored and confirmed signature match check of the absentee ballots, or if not granted, a declaration the election outcome is in do.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE
9. This Court has original jurisdiction and venue pursuant to 21-2-524, as the defendant resides in Fulton County. The office contested is for the electors for the Presidency of the United States. This action contests the Defendant’s certification and seeks to declare the election invalid, and that no certification of Presidential electors can occur for this election as the result of the election is in doubt for the reasons cited below.

PARTIES
10. Voter 1 is a citizen of Georgia, a qualified elector of the state, a registered voter, and voted in the November 3, 2o20, General Election. As an aggrieved elector, Voter 1 is qualified to contest the election.
11. Georgia’s Secretary of State is a defendant in his official capacity, the chief elections officer responsible for overseeing the conduct of Georgia’s elections, responsible for assuring the elections are conducted in a free, fair, and lawful manner, and is the official responsible for certifying the vote for the Presidential election in the state of Georgia. The Secretary of State certified the results for the Presidential electors on November 18, 2020.
12. Joe Biden was a candidate for the Presidency in the 2020 General Election in Georgia.
13. Jo Jorgensen was a candidate for the Presidency in the 2020 General Election in Georgia.

FACTS
14. The Democratic Party of Georgia agreed that absentee ballots pose the greatest risk of election fraud.
15. The prior President, and Georgian, Jimmy Carter also identified absentee ballots as the greatest risk of election fraud. According to the Carter Report, mail-in voting is “the largest source of potential voter fraud.” (Id.)
16. The New York Times identified absentee ballots as the greatest risk of election fraud, as reported by the New York Times: “Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises.”
17. Absentee ballots are “more likely to be compromised” than ballots cast at the polling booth, with a norm of at least 2% of all such ballots being invalid.
18. Increasing the amount of absentee balloting “increases the potential for fraud” as fraud is “vastly more prevalent” in absentee balloting.
19. Indeed, voting by mail is “problematic enough that election experts say there have been multiple elections in which no one can say with confidence which candidate was the deserved winner.”
20. “There is a bipartisan consensus that voting by mail, whatever its impact, is more easily abused than other forms” of voting. The bipartisan commission under former President Carter concurred that “absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
21. A consensus of election experts concurred that absentee ballots posed the greatest risk of election fraud. As election experts agree: “all the evidence of stolen elections involves absentee ballots and the like.”
22. Many well-regarded commissions and groups of diverse political affiliation agree that “when election fraud occurs, it usually arises from absentee ballots.”
23. Federal jurists long recognized the fraud risks attendant absentee balloting.
24. International, universally recognized election integrity standards require the presence of observers for the processing of ballots, as a “necessary safeguard of the integrity and transparency of the election.” Indeed, “the legal framework must contain a provision for representatives nominated by parties and candidates contesting the election to observe all voting processes.”
25. As Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley publicly explained, canvassing in public view is critical to testing the integrity of the vote: “It’s like not just being asked to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar, but you have to do it without actually seeing the jar. So in order to find systemic problems, you need access to the system…. I’ve been reading these complaints and these affidavits. I think it’s clear at this point that voting fraud occurred. There is obviously a record here of dead people voting. There are obviously problems of keeping observers in places where they really couldn’t observe, very effectively. We still don’t know. But we wouldn’t know — unless we had greater access to the system itself. That is held by election officials and that requires a court to order that information to be turned over.”
26. The sole safeguard in Georgia against absentee fraud is the signature of the absentee ballot envelope matching the signature of the voter in the voter file. Much like the signature on a bank check, it is all that protects an honest accounting of the vote. Yet, it is the one process counties will not allow any independent confirmation of, any audit review of, any monitored observation of at any stage of the process, any canvassing of, or any recanvassing of.
27. Despite a massive rise of mail-in ballots, Georgia reports the lowest rate of rejection of such ballots in its history, and a rate more than ten times lower than past Georgia elections.
28. Georgians repeatedly requested the Secretary of State, prior to certification, verify, in the presence of party-designated observers, the validity of the signature of any ballot received absentee or by mail. Despite repeated assurances such verification was forthcoming, and a public statement commanding canvassing and auditing of the vote, no such verification has in fact occurred as of this date.
29. The Secretary of States assured the public there would be a complete audit, recanvass and recount of the vote.
30. As the Congressionally created United States Election Assistance Commission provided in its guidelines, a critical part of any canvass of the vote must include allowing observers to check any possible "signature mismatches on absentee ballot envelopes or in the poll books."
31. In order for Georgia’s electors to be included in the Electoral College under the statutory safe harbor, the defendant must certify the election by December 8, 2020. Section 5 of Title 3 of the United States Code provides a safe-harbor for the adjudication of contested issues concerning any election for the appointment of electors that allows the Governor to certify the election and have their electors included in the Electoral College if that determination is made six days prior to the appointment of the electors. To fall within the safe-harbor, this requires adjudication by December 8, 2020, as the Electoral College meets on December 14, 2020.
32. In testing the voter signature systems, a news reporter found Nevada, which reportedly employs a system similar to some counties in Georgia, failed to spot a forged signature 8 out of 9 times in this election. Georgia also reported an unusual number of votes only for the President for just one candidate, as Biden received almost 99% of the over-votes in this election. This constituted a margin of votes more than five times larger than the reported margin of victory in the state for the Presidential election. In prior election contests in Georgia, this fact alone warranted an election contest, and discovery to determine whether it was the product of error. In the few cases monitors could observe, they saw perfectly marked ballots for Biden only that looked like computer generated produced absentee ballots.
33. The hand recount occurred without proper notice to the parties, without effective monitoring of the ballots cast in many counties, without any signature match check of any kind occurring under independently confirmed observation, and without even a hand recount being conducted in some counties. Despite public assurances that the ballots (all scanned) would be made available to the entire public for independent review, no such ballots were ever made so available.
34. Those counties that allowed effective monitoring of the hand recount turned up thousands of uncounted ballots for Donald Trump, revealed miscounts by elections staff incorrectly counting tens of thousands of ballots for Joe Biden, and revealed major glitches in the Dominion software program that tabulated ballots. In other states employing Dominion technology, glitches occurred that changed the outcome of elections, and shifted votes more than 100 times the norm for a hand recount, including hand recounts conducted in Michigan, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
35. In counties that strictly enforced personal identification and in counties that never processed mail in votes for Donald Trump, thousands of votes for Donald Trump were not counted.
36. Individually, these errors in signature matches, counting the ballots, and discarding legal ballots, more than 15,000 votes were either illegally cast or not legally tabulated, which is more than the margin of victory in this election with 5 million voters in the state of Georgia. Indeed, a properly enforced signature match itself would have excluded more than 15,000 ballots cast in this election, which is more than the margin of victory in the election, and is, by itself, sufficient to place the outcome in doubt to qualify this contest.

COUNT I: ELECTION CONTEST
37. As a blue-ribbon commission confirmed: “Foremost, properly conducted recounts assure candidates and the public that in a close election, there has been a fair examination of the procedures and an accurate count of all legally cast votes.” (Recount Principles & Best Practices, Citizens for Election Integrity, p.1 (2014).
38. Critically, any recount must employ a “consistency of methodology for all ballots recounted” and must provide for “participation of opposing parties to observe and challenge the interpretation of a voter’s intent” (Recount Principles & Best Practices, Citizens for Election Integrity p.4 (2014).Neither occurred here in the manual recount.
39. The failure to conduct signature matches allowed more than 15,000 illegal ballots to be included in the tabulation of the vote for this office, which is more than the margin of victory in this election.
40. The exclusion of monitors from the counting of ballots on Fulton County allowed more than 15,000 illegal votes to be included in the tabulation of the vote for this office, which is more than the margin of victory in this election.
41. The exclusion of monitors who could see the ballots being hand recounted allowed more than 15,000 illegal votes to be included in the tabulation of the vote for this office, which is more than the margin of victory in this election.
42. The failure of the counties to properly receive mail in ballots lawfully sent excluded more than 15,000 legal votes from being included in the tabulation of the vote for this office, which is more than the margin of victory in this election.
43. The failure of the counties to remove dead people, non-citizens, duplicate votes, and non-residents to vote in this election allowed more than 15,000 illegal votes to be included in the tabulation of the vote for this office, which is more than the margin of victory in this election.
44. The failure of the counties to conduct a proper election in accord with the best practices guidelines of the United States Election Assistance Commission allowed more than 15,000 illegal votes to be included in the tabulation of the vote for this office, which is more than the margin of victory in this election.
45. The Secretary of State failed his promise to the public, and no election results should be certified until he confirms the counties conducted the audit, recount, and recanvass, applying uniform standards and allowing meaningful monitoring of the process, as he publicly promised the citizens of Georgia, and the country, he would. "It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvass all at once." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-election-hand-recount-audit-presidential-race/

REMEDIES
46. Plaintiffs seek immediate discovery of all signature match files and immediate publication to the world of all scanned ballots, as the Secretary previously promised the public he would. If no review conducted, then Plaintiffs seek a declaration ...

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This was her tweet, and my response.

The head of civil rights blocked me for this. Unreal.

After calling me a “Canadian podcaster” and a grifter.

——-

Harmeet: “Ululating doubters/black-pillers & panicans, get out the hot sauce ‘cause you’re about to eat your words.

So proud to work with @AGPamBondi, the whole @CivilRights crew, and our law enforcement partners. A ton of work and steps went into these rapid arrests”

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It makes it all the more questionable why people are being dismissed as “black-pillers” for observing that Bondi has ...

110

Robert Barnes@RobertBarnes

January 16, 2026

The Barnes Brief, Weekend of January 16, 2025

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Art of the Week

The shadows chasing the light along the wall, sitting back pondering and searching for the perfect expression, the contemplative thought at the typewriter seeking the text to capture the image and escape the mind into the universe and speak it into truth, French doors open the platform under a Moroccan style key-shaped window onto the world outside mirroring the mind within. An artistic articulation of the weekly entreaty to craft the Barnes Brief.

B. Recommendation of the Week

A favorite of our Founders — The Law of Nations. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4618391-the-law-of-nations

C. Wisdom of the Week

“Here then is an infallible criterion, by which the nation may judge of the intentions of those who govern it ... if they corrupt the morals of the people, spread a taste for luxury, effeminacy, a rage for licentious pleasures, - if they stimulate the higher orders to a ruinous pomp and extravagance, - beware, citizens! beware of those corruptors! they only aim at purchasing slaves in order to exercise over them an arbitrary sway.” Emer de Vattel, The Law of Nations.

D. Appearances

Sidebar w/ Col. Macgregor https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7601541/live-with-colonel-douglas-macgregor-are-we-on-the-brink-of-world-war
Sidebar w/ Max Blumenthal https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7595594/live-with-max-blumenthal-trumps-action-in-venezuela-to-iran-chaos-what-comes-next-viva-barne
LIVE w/ the Duran

II. THE EVIDENCE

A. Barnes Library: Ten of the Top Curated Weekly Articles

A reminder: links are NOT endorsements of the authors or their interpretation of events, but intended to expand our library of understanding as well as expose ideas of distinct perspective to our own.

Democrats losing path on Immigration. https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-bankruptcy-of-the-democrats-elvis
Dems’ Identity Politics problem. https://josephklein.substack.com/p/dem-blindness
Gun-boat politics: the risks. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/what-would-trumps-threatened-strikes-colombia-mexico-or-cuba-achieve
Google as AI Dictator. https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/will-google-organize-the-worlds-prices
Trucker protest to secession. https://trendcompass.substack.com/p/breakup-of-canada-alberta-independence
The literary scam. https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/perhaps-people-are-cynical-about
Russia’s new weapon: Thor’s Lightning. https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/oreshnik-vs-lviv-targets-i
Pardon problems. https://x.com/kenvogel/status/2012223411523588300?s=20
Iran: bombs not problem-solvers. https://substack.com/home/post/p-184501786
Iran CIA-Mossad coup fails. https://substack.com/home/post/p-184279171

*Bonus: Board member w/ The Duran on Venezuela

B. Homework: Cases of the Week for Sunday

Powell Prosecution https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/the-powell-affair-and-the-limits?
SCOTUS: 4th Amendment https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-624_b07d.pdf
SCOTUS: Elections. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-568_gfbh.pdf
SCOTUS: 2nd Amendment. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-1046/357868/20250501090640899_24-1046%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf
SCOTUS: Single conviction. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-5774_9nbe.pdf
Insurrection in Twin Cities https://newsletter.amuseonx.com/p/minnesota-is-rejecting-federal-sovereignty
ICE Sued. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ACLU-v-Trump-Admin.pdf
Musk v ChatGPT https://courthousenews.com/elon-musks-fraud-claims-against-openai-set-to-go-to-trial/
1A case goes to sanctions stage. https://courthousenews.com/judge-slams-government-for-conspiring-to-chill-free-speech-of-pro-palestine-students/
EPA’s forever chemicals. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lawsuit-PFAS-environment.pdf
Tina Peters appeal.
Benshoof Municipal Appeal.

*Bonus: Constitutional questions about the Federal Reserve. https://southerncalifornialawreview.com/2024/05/14/the-federal-reserve-and-the-constitution/

**Bonus: Subs w/o consent. https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/open-lawsuit-settlements/625000-educative-subscription-class-action-settlement/

***Bonus: Bondi burying cases of corporate corruption. https://www.citizen.org/article/canceled-corporate-enforcement-trump-first-year-second-term/

C. Best of the Board: Ten of the Top Posts

A delicious photo. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7607864/title
Beware of dangerous Karens when out in the wild. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7607634/https-x-com-tarabull-status-2012125177245466820-s-20-i-blame-the-cia-fbi-for-creating-these-der
Music industry vs Big Tech. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7607465/for-those-interested-elon-musk-vs-the-music-industry-jan-16-2025-top-music-attorney
Bill Brown effective comedic memes. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7606729/title
The color revolution behind ICE protests. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7607435/this-is-organized-crime-https-thepostmillennial-com-radical-anti-ice-network-uses-mass-signal-cha
Types of TDS multiply. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7607854/tds-trump-derangement-syndrome-type-a-and-b-type-a-oppose-hate-trump-at-all-costs-even-when-he-i
Biblical blessing of obstacles. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7607379/james-1-2-4-have-you-ever-wondered-why-would-a-loving-heavenly-father-allow-his-children-to-go
Trump 2nd term portrait? https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7606837/i-d-be-ok-with-this
Good health news from a Board member. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7606735/just-another-update-on-ken-s-progress-following-his-esophagectomy-i-m-honestly-amazed-at-his-re
Ideas for improving cars. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7605241/policy-proposals-to-improve-modern-cars-ban-def-in-new-designs-for-diesel-engines-ban-it-becaus

III. Closing Argument: The Constitution, Article I: The Law of Nations

Contrary to some claims, the Constitution recognizes international law and its potential applicability to the actions of the various branches of the government.
The Preamble provides the purpose: provide for the common dense, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.
Section 8 of Article 1 empowers Congress to both law and collect duties on foreign goods; “to regulate commerce with foreign nations”, “establish a uniform rule of naturalization”, to “borrow money on the credit of the United States”, to “define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the High Seas”; to define and punish “offenses against the Law of Nation”; to “make rules concerning captures on land and water”;and no person holding “office of profit or trust” may accept any “present, emolument, office, title of any kind” from a foreign state.
Section 2 of Article 2 provides for the power of the President “to make Treaties” which become legally binding when “two thirds of the Senators present concur.”
Of note, the judicial power in Article 3, section 2 provides for the all cases arising under the Treaties made to be adjudicated, along with all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction and controversies concerning foreign states, citizens or subjects.
Article 6 provides for debts to be “valid against the United States” while making “all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States” as “the supreme law of the land” binding all judges in every state “notwithstanding” any contradiction in their own state laws or state constitution.
What is the “Law of Nations” referenced by our founders in the Constitution charging Congress with drafting its criminal enforcement mechanism? Colloquially called in the Latin as Jus Gentium, it forms the legal precepts governing relations between sovereign states, rooted in custom and treaties, defining the rights, duties and conduct of nations in areas like international waters, conflict between nations, emigration and immigration between nations, extradition and deportation between nations, and commerce between nations. The origin of this derives from Roman law and concepts of universal jurisdiction. Catholic scholars would add natural law from universal moral precepts and principles as part of it, from which doctrines like jus cogens originate.
A prominent scholar recognized and respected by the Founders informed their judgment — the Swiss jurist Emer de Vattell, entitled The Law of Nations. Every thoughtful writer of the Constitution included the text in their library and amongst their lexicon for inspiring their own construct of the justifications for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself.
The same doctrine animated the most celebrated application of natural law to the law between nations and citizens in foreign lands — the Nuremberg trials. A good index can be found here: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/imt.asp
Later codified into the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, America led the way in establishing universal norms of conduct for both citizens and states to engage in. A critical constituent justification for the jus cogens norms derived from the existence of God and natural law. In other words, those that claim “no international law exists” are not just ignoring the Constitution and American-led legal precedent, they are rejecting natural law and the divine inspiration that shapes and justifies it. As always, in general guide to law and life, trust the Founders first, and second, never trust taking the side of the Nazis or those so aligned.

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Robert Barnes@RobertBarnes

January 10, 2026

The Barnes Brief: January 10, 2025

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Art of the Week

At the Capitol spending time with young idealists working for their farmer-engineer turned dissident Congressman representing the heart of Appalachia against the attacks of the left and right alike. A Congressman of Constitutional Conscience.

B. Recommendation of the Week

Revolt from the Heartland. Rediscovering true conservatism. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1556981.Revolt_from_the_Heartland

C. Wisdom of the Week

Between “Us or Laos”, “I am wondering if it is not time for us to quit treating the good American in our own house as a louse.” Rep. Siler, Kentucky, 1959.

https://appalachianhistorian.org/the-story-of-eugene-siler-from-whitley-kentucky/

D. Appearances

Live w/ Baris
Live w/ Rekieta https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7577211/nite-owl-special-live-w-rekieta

II. BEST OF THE BOARD

Arrest our own crooks. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7590540/this
New game: Blockgino! https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7590401/title
Our own artists. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7590177/this-painting-a-commission-is-almost-ready-to-be-signed-and-varnished-i-used-my-own-references-an
Viva: gatekeeping gate-keeps itself. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7587292/there-will-be-gatekeeping-deep-thought-of-the-day
A different time. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7589759/baltimores-marble-steps-a-distinctive-architectural-feature-popular-from-the-mid-19th-to
Truth about who wins promotion. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7589681/https-x-com-shreyas-status-2009773326059876719-s-46-t-kq-szkcyjrqpongym3k4q
Good news from Dave. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7586825/today-i-will-be-released-from-the-hospital-i-cannot-stand-being-confined-to-a-small-space-i-have
Freedom of horses. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7589702/title
Permanent wisdom. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7588878/title
A good, good opportunity. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7588873/man-when-i-went-to-university-the-first-time-i-never-looked-up-what-my-grades-were-i-found-out-by

III. BARNES LIBRARY: CURATED STORIES OF THE WEEK

Blue-collar job loss. https://www.apricitas.io/p/america-is-losing-blue-collar-jobs
The populist moment comes to Democrats too. https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/a-deeper-look-at-americas-anti-establishment
Limits on Venezuelan oil. https://prospect.org/2026/01/06/trump-maduro-venezuela-oil-imperialism/
Banksters are still the problem. https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/monetary-policy-is-monetary-piracy
Venezuela recap. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/big-surprise-legal-story-changesCBS new neocon network. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-new-neoconservatives/
New food guidelines. https://realfood.gov
Vaccine schedule changes. https://x.com/AaronSiriSG/status/2009366832340455656?s=20=
New fraud AAG. https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/01/white-house-creates-new-assistant-attorney-general-focused-fraud/410583/
Credit card rate cap. https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/wp-content/uploads/sites/412/2025/09/03183755/Capping-Credit-Card-Rates.pdf
Labor share low.

IV. HOMEWORK: CASES OF THE WEEK FOR THE SUNDAY SHOW

ICE shooting. https://x.com/AlphaNews/status/2009679932289626385?s=20
Anti-trust betrayal. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/real-estate-brokerages-avoided-merger-investigation-after-justice-department-rift-e846c797?
Habeas reform. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/scotus-bowe-us-opinion.pdf
Third Amendment? https://courthousenews.com/hotel-dispute-with-trump-administration-tests-rarely-cited-constitutional-rights/
Election reform efforts blocked. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/washington-oregon-trump-election-eo-order.pdf
Fraud programs protected. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/subramanian-ruling-on-childcare-emergency-motion.pdf
WWE class action. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/wwe-lawsuit-class-action-espn.pdf
Right to high school highlights. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/laurel-beeler-order-granting-in-part-and-denying-in-part.pdf
Ohio Abortion Law. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ohio-coa-abortion-injunction-opinion.pdf
AI settlement. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/technology/google-characterai-teenager-lawsuit.html

V. CLOSING ARGUMENT: THE CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE I, THE POWER OVER WAR

Clause 11 of Section of Article I entitles Congress exclusively “to declare war” as well as to “grant letters of marque and reprisal” along with “Rules concerning captures on Land and water.” This executes the Preamble’s commitment to provide for “the common defense.” In addition, Congress alone defines offenses against the law of nations; the means to raise and support armies as well as establishing a navy; the rules for armed forces; and calling forth of the Militia. It removes this power from the states as “No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance or Confederation” nor “grant letters of Marque and reprisal” as well as “engage in War” unless invaded and in imminent danger. Indeed, treason is defined as “levying War” against the United States.
Article 2, by contrast, only affords the President the power to be “Commander in Chief” of the Army, Navy, and the Militia “when called into the actual service of the United States.”
Equally, the power to control Letters of Marque confirm this Constitutional power of Congress, distilling the power of war into many hands across representatives of the people subject to elections throughout the nation. A letter of Marque and Reprisal turned pirates into privateers, authorizing private enterprise to both attack and seize ships as well as cargo, arguably the foundation for modern sanctions as well as the use of force on the high seas. If sanctions power was intended as incidental to the Commander in Chief, it wouldn’t;t be explicitly afforded Congress and explicitly denied the states.
The history of the Roman republic contextualizes this segregation of military power — the fear the Republic devolved into an Empire the moment it let one man cross the Rubicon and hoard the power to make war.
The analogy to the States serves the purpose to confine the Presidential power to unilaterally declare war, a necessary Constitutional predicate to making war. States could only make war without Congress if “actually invaded” and “in imminent danger.” This standard compares to the universal law of self-defense recognized the the law of nations, which Congress also gets to define the offenses against in the Constitution.
The only efficacious means of Constitutional enforcement of these provisions derives from the balance of powers (Congress control over the purse and Judicial control over property or person disputes derivative of the use of military force) and the Impeachment Clause of the Constitution for the kind of “high crime” derivative of the use of military force (trespass, kidnapping, piracy, battery, assault, murder).
The anti-Federalists feared even this power to precarious in the hands of a centralized, nationalized government, where “swayed by elites” they would devolve into “wars for conquest, not defense”, preferring this power devolve even further to the local and state level, enforced through the prohibition on standing armies, quartering armies in the community, and the power of arms in the hands of the people through the Militia and the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights. They especially worried about the capacity of a single man in the Presidency usurping the powers of the Commander in Chief to make war without even Congressional blessing. The Federalists promised the President could never do that without Congressional pre-approval, with John Jay promising this check effectively muted the fear of abuse of executive power.
Our founding generation abhorred emperors, despised empire, and feared any crossing of the Rubicon by a small elite or single person to kill a Republic for a would-be empire. Our founders denied the right to make conquest a legitimate objective of the national government. Why? Because they saw how adventurous, avaricious empires killed republics quicker than anything could. Don’t need to be a Star Wars fun to understand that; just need a Cliffs Notes history of the world.

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Robert Barnes@RobertBarnes

December 19, 2025

The Barnes Brief: Week of December 19, 2025

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Art of the Day

Christmas music, my favorite season thanks to my father, by wondrous choirs, which also was my father’s favorite form of Holiday cheer. This particular album from the Vienna Boys Choir.

B. Wisdom of the Day

“Ignore them, and you get Fuentes, but worse.” Carl Benjamin on young men in the west.

C. Cultural Recommendation

Greatest Christmas movie ever. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097958/

D. Appearances

LIVE w/ Tom Woods
LIVE w/ Dr. Bowden & Brook Jackson

II. THE EVIDENCE

*Note: A reminder — links are NOT endorsements of the ideas contained therein. The Library is big, and it often consists of ideas I do not personally share, but whose ideas are worth further exploring.

A. Daily News of Interest

Erika Kirk announces support for Vance 2028. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/erika-kirk-endorses-jd-vance-for-president/ar-AA1SEd5F
Left populism rebuild. https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-future-of-the-left-in-the-21st-ef0
Big MAHA wins on trans interventions. https://www.themahareport.com/p/breaking-kennedy-signs-medical-declaration
Somali fraud. https://archive.is/lMATr
Georgia comes clean on 2020, in part. https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/17/fulton-county-we-dont-dispute-315000-votes-lacking-poll-workers-signatures-were-counted-in-2020/

*Bonus: Kimchi heals. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251216081945.htm

B. Daily Deep Dive: Zoomer Men Rebel

Zoomer men missing relationships. https://isaiahmccall.substack.com/p/gen-z-men-have-given-up-on-dating
Condemned for their gender. https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/52863-young-men-masculinity-and-misogyny
No good jobs. https://fortune.com/2025/08/25/gen-zers-neets-jobless-men-unemployed-higher-rates-women-healthcare-coding-ai/
No home. https://fortune.com/2025/12/12/gen-z-giving-up-on-owning-home-spending-more-saving-less-working-less-risky-investments/
Carl Benjamin explains.

*Bonus: Hollywood attacks young men. https://slate.com/culture/2024/11/entertainment-hollywood-masculinity-male-role-models-movies-tv-social-media.html

C. Cases of Consequence

Brown University murder case. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/claudio-neves-valente-reddit-brown-shooting-b2887811.html
Epstein Files release.
Bongino retires. https://x.com/barnes_law/status/2001725595022160288?s=20
Judge convicted. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/18/nx-s1-5648584/judge-hannah-dugan-guilty-obstruction-ice
1stA & immigration judges. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/opinion-immigration-judges-free-speech-trump.pdf
Maryland reparations legislation. https://apnews.com/article/slavery-reparations-wes-moore-veto-maryland-9c134edbf0410228035743a8dc546171
Luigi. https://courthousenews.com/luigi-mangione-faces-uphill-battle-after-marathon-evidence-hearing/
1A & new antisemitism laws. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/antisemitism-lawsuit.pdf
Minnesota whistleblower suit: bogus child abuse grant scam. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/sharon-vs-harper-complaint.pdf
Walmart sexual assault. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/walmart-could-have-foreseen-sexual-assault.pdf

*Bonus: Baby Shark suit. https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/892398f9-ac03-458a-8ba1-dce37861e63c/1/doc/24-313_opn.pdf#xml=https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/892398f9-ac03-458a-8ba1-dce37861e63c/1/hilite/

III. Best of the Board: Trump Admin Grade

On the 1^st year of the 2^nd term of the Trump administration

UncleBugbite: I'm a young man with decades ahead of me to suffer under our bullshit kleptocracy. Sure, Kamala Harris isn't president right now. But Trump's absolute failure to address the structural problems is laying the groundwork for something much worse and better prepared than stupid Kamala Harris, with a desperate population willing to risk more extreme measures for any sort of relief. Trump's weakness is wasting the tiny opportunity we had to fix things, and frankly I'm terrified.
JoeKD: This Country was a FUCKING MESS. You just don't clean up a Mess like that in 9 months. Give the man some time. It'll get there. As far as Foreign Affairs goes, he needed to spend alot of time on that to get our Allies back in line.
TJefferson: Positives: Immigration/border; JD vance/RFK jr/Tulsi; Multiple pardons; A single month of DOGE. Negatives: Everything else
Iceni2103: what are we comparing it to? compared to the alternative, it is B+ to A range. Kamala or Biden 2 would have been an utter disaster. compared to the promises: D+? some good things (mostly border, hard changes to trade, and some executive reforms), but he is falling down way too much (hyping up 'peace deals' that don't last, warmongering Venezuela, dragging out Ukraine, unforced errors on staffing and by extension big issues like Epstein, DOGE/BBB, and MAHA, listening to neo-cons like he needs to please them, focus on donors not voters).
Bdmichael09: The only thing hes actually done that truly matters is stop the insane flow of mass migration. That is great, but he hasn't delivered really on anything else. Russia/Ukraine is still a shit show. He bends over and takes it up thr ass for Israel daily rather than put them in their place as the welfare recipients of the US that they are. This nonsense with Venezuela needs to stop, now. He hasn't handled any of the corruption in the bureaucratic state. His push to lower interest rates is a recipe for disaster. We need more restrictive monetary policy after the covid insanity, not easy money policy. Its going to take at least a decade to recover from those awful Congressional decisions in 2020 and 2021. He hasn't actually held the DEI bureaucracy to account in Universities. Many universities kept all of the DEI people but renamed the departments/roles and there has been 0 follow up on actually stomping that out.
Ktrimbach: I go back and forth between B- and C+. He’s still the best President of my life (starting with Nixon), but Oh so much less than he could be!

IV. Closing Argument: The Constitution, Article 1, The Power of Impeachment

Aside from the power of the purse, the other principal power afforded the legislative branch is the power to remove executive officers, including the President and Judges, in the power of Impeachment.
As always, we start, first and foremost, with the text. Section 3 of Article 1 provides the House
shall have the sole Power of impeachment” while ascribing to the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” The Constitution requires “no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.” The constitution constricts the impact of impeachment to “not extend further than to removal from Office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.” Further, “the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment according to Law” by authorities other than the legislative branch.
Of note, Article 1 otherwise remains mute on the issue of impeachment. The other Articles answer who can be impeached and the legal predicates for cause to issue such impeachments. Section 4 of Article 2 provides impeachment for the President, Vice President “and all civil Officers of the United States.” The cause permitted for their impeachment is limited to “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The power to impeach judges is only indirectly referenced, as section 1 of Article 3 provides judges can only hold their offices “during good behaviour.” The only other reference to cause for removal is the obligation for all judicial officers to be “bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution” in Article 6. The rules of impeachment permit “each house may determine the rules of its proceedings” in section 5 of Article 1. The “civil officers” subject to impeachment parallel the “principal officers” the Senate must be “advised” and “consented” to the appointment of under Article 2.
While executive officers can only be impeached for “treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors”, judges can be impeached simply for not holding office during “good behaviour.” Some scholars argue the ‘good behaviour” phrase was just a limitation on at-will firing, and not an independent grounds for impeachment and removal, but early American practice and ancient English practice belies that construction. The contrast evidences that good behavior is a broader provision than treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors. A judge can be impeached for non-criminal conduct. The phrase derives from the Latin – as long as they shall behave themselves well. The legacy of the phrase derives from old English practice dating to the 12^th century, intended to protect against arbitrary removal or removal without any limits on discretion, comparable to the principle difference between “at will” employment and “for cause” limits on firing.
What constitutes such cause for judicial removal? Consider early American practice: merely being drink on the bench was sufficient for impeachment. The principal and paramount precedent of impeachment of judicial officers is the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in 1804. What grounds did the House recite: “arbitrary, oppressive and unjust” handling of a trial, including partisan prejudice especially, as reflected in the application of the law, exclusions of evidence, and inaccurate recitations of the law to grand juries. Two examples include the failure to remove biased jurors, excluding defense witnesses, and generally “tending to prostitute the high judicial character with which he was invested, to the low purpose of an electioneering partizan.”
Sound like any Judges you know?

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