Disqualification from Public Office Under the 14th Amendment
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment was originally intended to keep former Confederate officials from gaining power in the reconstructed government following the Civil War. Known as the "disqualification clause," this section was fairly obscure until January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol building.
What Is the Disqualification Clause?
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
Could the disqualification clause prevent Donald Trump from running for president in 2024?
Theoretically, yes. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment gives Congress the power to disqualify someone who has already held a public office from holding "any office" if they participate in an "insurrection or rebellion" against the United States.
But since this mechanism has never been used against a president, there are still questions to resolve. The disqualification clause applies to current and former federal officials, state officials, and military officials. However, legal scholars are split on whether the disqualification clause applies to the presidency. It's likely the 14th Amendment will continue to come up in conversations approaching the 2024 presidential election.
Is disqualification different than impeachment? Yes. Someone who is impeached could be disqualified from holding public office in the future if they are convicted, and Congress applies such a punishment. But this is separate from disqualification under the 14th Amendment. Under Sections 3 and 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress could bar someone from holding office. But unlike an impeachment conviction, that decision could be overturned by the courts. Most importantly, under the 14th Amendment, disqualification requires only a simple majority vote, not the two-thirds vote needed to convict during an impeachment trial.
So it’s possible that before the first of the year when congress changes they could try and declassify Trump. I wonder if the new congress can reclassify him? Talk about desperte,the dems know that as long as Trump is viable for 2024 they know they are dead.
Legal scholars? REAL legal scholars would know the history of this amendment and what the framers of it were trying to do.
The clause was written for and about former Confederate officials. As far as I know, almost every one of them was a democrat.
Trump is neither a democrat nor a Confederate. He never led a rebellion or fought in a war of secession.
Saying that this clause of the Fourteenth can be used against Trump is not scholarship, but perverted, deliberate stupidity masking as a thoughtful argument.
Thanks as always for added insights into potential game plans.
Hopefully Trump has the goods elsewhere , and foresaw something like this happening.
Bottom line if they somehow ( due to Rinos) prevent him from running I think DeSantis will rise in a similar role. As our governor he’s not afraid of the Washington bureaucracy