Whether a person “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” is a question of fact that only a judicial process should decide.
Congress might decide if the accused is guilty via impeachment but never by legislation.
The amendment itself does not state how insurrection or rebellion is determined. One as a matter of law cannot assume that it is a judicial process. This argument supports exactly what happened. There was a bench trial or hearing wherein the judicial process simply declared PDJT as an insurrectionist. The court of primacy where fact is determined did just this. Without a jury, without a witness, so that is open to interpretation.
Trump was never charged criminally and therefore was never endangered with being deprived of his liberty — the charge of insurrection according to federal code is criminal and has a maximum penalty of 10 years. As the constitution is silent on if insurrection is criminal (unless charged federally) the 10th amendment reserves to the states or the people respectively the right to determine how to bring this charge. So if this were a crime, it speaks volumes that Trump was never charged. Ergo because an idiot Supreme Court in colorado got this case by a unilateral declaration and conviction of insurrection from the trial court level which was overturned by the appellant level in colorado, which was then overturned by the Supreme Court restoring the insurrection fact which originated in the trial court, the federal appeal had to weave into the ruling that this is a federal issue which Trump did by raising the 14th amendment argument. Federal law must be explicit in it application otherwise it belongs to the state
On a 14th amendment argument (states do not supersede the affirmative words of the constitution) the SCOTUS has the right to reverse the SCOColorado. But unless Colorado has a specific charge that criminalized insurrection on the state level (which can only be against the state), then the case would be reversed and remanded for proper procedure. In this case the SCOTUS administered the biggest beating possible — a pure reversal with no remand.
This decision i think is well crafted and 9-0 and stops now all this insurrection BS. If states don’t already have a law on the books relative to federal elections (which they could not) and now they legislate something, or judge something as in this case, then you have a bill of attainder which also is federally prohibited.
This is a perfect decision as it ends everything with no room to try again.