Lamport

Lamport
21st Chief Justice of the United States
In office July 18, 2019 – January 18, 2021
Nominated by	LOTR
Preceded by	Jet
Succeeded by	Thanos
50th President of the United States
In office March 3, 2019 – July 12, 2019
Vice President	Patty
Preceded by	Politophile
Succeeded by	LOTR
79th Secretary of the Treasury
In office November 26, 2018 – March 3, 2019
Nominated by	Politophile
Preceded by	ComHack
Succeeded by	Jeb
Senator from the North
In office October 31, 2018 – March 3, 2019
Preceded by	NotAName
Succeeded by	Justin
6th Chairman of the Republican Party
In office September 11, 2018 – January 6, 2019
Preceded by	Ronald Reagan II
Succeeded by	LOTR
59th Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office August 31, 2018 – October 31, 2018
Preceded by	Butterlands
Succeeded by	Peanut
Member of the House of Representatives from the North’s At Large District
In office July 28, 2018 – October 31, 2018

Lamport is a retired Northern politician and jurist in the United States. He was a committed Republican on the libertarian wing of the party. Soon after being elected Chairman, he re-aligned the party and conservative movement at large in a libertarian direction and established the political consensus that would define federal politics in 2019 and 2020. After serving 12 months in elected office, from the House to the Presidency, Lamport was nominated and confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States, becoming the first politician to head to legislative, executive and judicial branch of government. By some, he is called “the late emancipator,” on account of his leadership to abolish the income tax, end 18 years of perpetual war and pass multiple landmark constitutional amendments on civil rights. To those who give a less positive assessment, on the other hand, his Administration represented a dangerous and unprecedented reduction in the size and scope of the federal government and the military power it can project abroad. His tenure on the Supreme Court is regarded as originalist, skeptical of federal power and punctuated by willingness to challenge precedent. Most consequently, the Lamport Court overturned Darby, restored the distinction between production and commerce and returned the jurisprudential understanding of interstate commerce to 1936. He retired to the Virgin Islands in January, 2021.

Philosophy

Lamport and his political thinking are characterized by social liberalism, economic conservatism, civil libertarianism, military non-interventionism and Georgism. As a Georgist, he is dedicated to a single tax in which land value, and only land value, is taxed. In pursuit of this goal, as President, Lamport cut $300 billion in spending, abolished the income, estate, gift and land appreciation tax and implemented a land value tax. While he would reduce the corporate tax rate during his term, a single tax would be achieved a year later by Governor and President Valerie, his Chief of Staff, first in Jefferson and then in the United States. His promotion of non-interventionism planted the seed that would, in time, see the United States withdraw from the Middle East, disarm thousands of nuclear weapons, leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and advocate against the United Nations veto. Broadly, his libertarian economic policy was followed by successive Administrations, left and right, and represented a major part of the political consensus between March, 2019 and October, 2020. Most consider it "broken" in December, some 22 months later, when a $560 billion deficit was signed into law during the coronavirus pandemic. The prior Administration had suspended all non-essential services and re-directed $500 billion to relief in order to avoid breaking the precedent.

Party

Lamport was first elected to the Republican National Committee in August, 2018, while serving in the House of Representatives. When Ronald Reagan II retired in September, he was elected Chairman and acclaimed to a second term in November. His first act as Chairman was to end the Republican-Progressive coalition. The electoral success of the party is credited by some to his decision to focus on economic and foreign policy and support, rather than oppose, more progressive social policy like gay marriage and criminal justice reform. Having achieved the first Republican majority in the federal government, Lamport decided against seeking a third term. He was succeeded by Vice Chairman LOTR in January, 2019. Lamport was soon awarded an honorary seat on the National Committee, held until his nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court in July, when he resigned his membership of the party to guarantee his independence on the bench.

Congress

In July, 2018, a special election was called in the at large district and Lamport was sent to the House of Representatives at the middle point of the term. He first gained national attention by leading a strong opposition to a budget which reported a deficit. Lamport and Speaker Butterlands, a Progressive, formed a coalition to amend the bill and, instead, pass the first balanced budget in 17 years. Re-elected in August, despite being in the Republican minority, he was unanimously elected Speaker. During his second term in the House, Lamport passed legislation to repeal the death penalty, ban the draft, end the mandate to print money to balance the budget and assert the constitutional duty of the legislature, rather than the executive, to declare war. Over the next 18 months, between October, 2018 and April, 2020, he was the only Speaker to serve a whole term: this peculiarity is called the Lamport curse. During the same period, he won a landmark victory in the Supreme Court when the attempt by Governor Indy to nationalize all private business in the state was struck down as a violation of the takings clause.

He was nominated to run against Senator NotAName in October and won with 53% of the vote. In the Senate, Lamport passed legislation to re-enfranchise more than 6 million felons on the completion of their sentence or parole, repeal the tip tax, abolish civil forfeiture, recognize territorial self-determination, close the base in Guantanamo Bay, prohibit the last constitutional vestige of slavery, as punishment for crime, and guarantee the right of habeas corpus without the possibility of suspension by the government. While in the minority, he was instrumental in taking down radical Progressive legislation, best represented by the $3 trillion "Medicare for All" package which had already passed the House. When Senator Apex was shot in a failed assassination plot in December, Lamport was elected Acting President pro tempore and held the gavel until his return to office. Over the 7 months he served in Congress, Lamport voted down more than $3.2 trillion in new spending. He and Jet are widely recognized as the most prominent and formidable Senators of their political era. On his election to the Presidency, Representative Justin was appointed to succeed him in the Senate.

Cabinet

Having established a political consensus to favor a balanced budget, Lamport was nominated as Secretary of the Treasury by President Politophile and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in November, 2018. He managed the passage of the second balanced budget and planned the introduction of the land appreciation tax: this would later prove an important step in the tax reform he would achieve as President. Lamport and Attorney General Yimir took a leading role in the Cabinet, well beyond the management of their Departments, and they gave new life to an institution many believed had become a de facto sinecure.

White House

Acclaimed as the Republican nominee for President in February, 2019, Lamport campaigned against Representative Sparkle, Senator Michigan and Senator NotAName in the general election. Winning every state and more than 70% of the electoral college, he was inaugurated in March with Patty as Vice President. His Administration was noted for passing more legislation and issuing more orders and proclamations than the last three Administrations put together.

Lamport abolished the income, estate, gift and land appreciation land, implemented a 6% land value tax, cut the corporate tax by 25% to achieve the lowest rate since 1936, cancelled $300 billion in public spending and began to pay down the debt for the first time in a generation. Beyond economic policy, his Administration ended the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, withdrew more than 20,000 troops posted outside the United States, repealed the Patriot Act, abolished the Department of Homeland Security, suspended government-to-government aid to dictatorships, regulated the intelligence community, negotiated a landmark treaty with the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan and North Korea to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world by 50% and returned Guantanamo Bay to Cuba. He also reinstated the federal parole system, banned private imprisonment, de-nationalized the rail and tele-communications sector, which had been seized by President Poke, protected national parks against exploitation and granted limited rights to apes, monkeys, elephants, whales, dolphins, octopuses and squids. He was the first elected President in 40 years, since Jimmy Carter, not subject to any attempt to impeach.

Near the end of his Presidency, Lamport and Governor Webb were shot by a neo-fascist militia in Nashville. During the course of his treatment, amid concern he may die, the Cabinet invoked the 25th amendment and Vice President Patty served as Acting President until he could return to office the following week. While Lamport and his Administration were popular, Valeriegate saw a number of people criticize the way in which "pressure" was used to ensure the passage of his legislative agenda. Some called for the dismissal of his Chief of Staff, however, he resisted and later signed the bill that caused the controversy into law. Noting how the authorization passed following September 11, 2001 was cited again and again over the next 17 years, it banned their open-ended nature and set a 2 year default.

Republicans, Progressives, Communists, Populists and Independents were all represented in his Cabinet. Politophile and Jet were nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court during his Administration. Committed to seek and serve only a single term, having accomplished each campaign promise made in the election, Lamport was succeeded as President by Senator LOTR in July, while his Vice President was re-elected to a second term. On his last day in office, he pardoned Julian Assange and de-classified an unprecedented number of UFO documents.

Supreme Court

Nominated to the Supreme Court by his successor, President LOTR, Lamport was confirmed as Chief Justice in July, 2019, with only one Senator voting against. His appointment, followed by the appointment of Associate Justice JMP, Webb and Patty, marked the beginning of an originalist majority on the bench for the first time in 80 years. Among less momentous judgements, he authored the opinions which restored corporate personhood as a legal concept, protected campaign donations by natural persons, reversed the "particular government program" exception to the origination clause, overturned the machine gun ban, declared the annexation of Hawaii in 1898 unconstitutional but affirmed its admission to the union in 1959, upheld the revocation of the North Atlantic Treaty and narrowed the interpretation of the interstate commerce clause by rebuking Darby and reviving the distinction between production and commerce in Carter. In a case often cited as his "favorite," he dissented against the a priori expulsion of a liberal Representative. In general, while most judgements were unanimous, the Lamport Court challenged and, in some ways, openly rejected the convention on political deference born in the aftermath of the New Deal. Most jurists agreed with his jurisprudence when questioned as nominees, however, some on the left - particularly Senator Epsilon - grew increasingly critical over time and even characterized the Supreme Court as “partisan.”

In this post, Lamport administered the oath of office to President Patty, Michigan, Barch, Valerie, Garland, Cabin and Sandoval. He also presided over two impeachment trials: the first in February, 2020, where the President was convicted, and the second in September, where the Governor of Puerto Rico was acquitted. While irregular, Lamport was asked to preside over the Legislative Assembly because the new state had not yet established its own Supreme Court. During the 18 months he served as Chief Justice, he developed a form of original meaning theory called the Lamport proviso. Lamport retired in January, 2021 and was soon succeeded by Chief Judge Thanos.

Retirement

In retirement, Lamport divided his time between the North and Saint Thomas, one of the Virgin Islands, where he farmed sugarcane, distilled rum and drank to excess.

Honors

• Presidential Medal of Freedom (October, 2019)
• Congressional Gold Medal (November, 2019)
• Parliamentary Medal of Unity (August, 2020)