Biden’s Bizarre End
Plus: What I’m reading and watching.
Good morning! It’s Sunday, January 19, 2025. It’s the last full day of President Joe Biden’s term and the last day before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.
The TikTok ban has taken effect in the United States, ending the reign — at least for now — of one of the most popular social media platforms in the country.
And the ceasefire in Gaza began this morning, with Hamas releasing three Israelis who have been held hostage for more than 15 months.
Not so quiet for the Sunday of a long weekend! Welcome to R&R, a weekly perk for paid subscribers. In this email, I’ll recap one trend that I think has gone under-reported this week — and then recommend my favorite pieces of journalism that I’ve been reading and watching. Let’s dive in!
Presidents always race to get as much done as they can on their way out the door, and Joe Biden has been no exception.
He’s announced a ban on new oil and gas drilling along the coasts. Removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Disbursed more aid to Ukraine. And issued thousands of commutations — as well as a pardon for his son Hunter.
This week, though, Biden’s farewell tour took him to some odd places: declaring that a law is not a law, and that a non-constitutional amendment is a constitutional amendment.
Allow me to explain, starting with the second one first. Here’s a post that @POTUS sent out on X this week:
The Constitution has only been amended 27 times, so it would be big news if a 28th had been added this week, especially one — like the ERA — that has been percolating for several decades. However, a fancy graphic on X does not a constitutional amendment make.
Here, in case you need a refresher, is Article V of the Constitution:
It’s my favorite part of the document, because it’s where the Constitution lays out the process for amending itself. This is the true genius of the Constitution: more than checks and balances, more than separation of powers. The Founders humbly recognized that the document they had just spent four months hashing out would not be without flaws, many of which they wouldn’t even be able to recognize.
In order to allow future generations to work towards a “more perfect union,” they included Article V, allowing for their own work to be scrapped and changed by their descendants — not without a high bar, but still allowing it nonetheless.
The only issue: CTRL+F for “president” in the above amendment. You won’t find anything. The president has no role in the constitutional amendment process, which is why Joe Biden has zero power to add the Equal Rights Amendment — or any other amendment — to the Constitution by executive fiat.
Why does he think he does?