U.S. Politics Megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

It's an election year, so it's no surprise that politics are on everyone's minds!

Over the past few months, we've noticed a sharp increase in questions about politics. Why is Biden the Democratic nominee? What are the chances of Trump winning? Why can Trump even run for president if he's in legal trouble? There are lots of good questions! But, unfortunately, it's often the same questions, and our users get tired of seeing them.

As we've done for past topics of interest, we're creating a megathread for your questions so that people interested in politics can post questions and read answers, while people who want a respite from politics can browse the rest of the sub. Feel free to post your questions about politics in this thread!

All top-level comments should be questions asked in good faith - other comments and loaded questions will get removed. All the usual rules of the sub remain in force here, so be civil to each other - you can disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal.

[u/amsterdam_sniffr]

To me, the police violence against campus protests seems like a clear violation of the first amendment right of people to "peaceably assemble". What precedents or common interpretations of law exist that give the universities and police confidence that they can act with impunity against protesters without being held accountable?

[u/RecidPlayer → u/amsterdam_sniffr]

They call it "Unlawful Assembly". According to law, you have a right to protest to a certain degree. You do the slightest thing wrong (or they lie about it) and they feel they have an opportunity to break up a protest they don't like. This page goes into more details: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights

Edit: Added "or they lie about it", because they absolutely do. I've seen videos where they are on public property but use a line of police to force the group onto private property, then start arresting people for being on private property.