By Raleigh Perry
BUFORD, Ga. | A headline in the Aug. 17, 2023, in The Hill reads “The Constitution bars Trump from holding public office ever again.” This refers to an argument put forth in the previous week by William Baude, a professor of law at the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. The argument refers to Section 3 of Amendment 14 in the Constitution.
Perry
Section 3 of Amendment 14 reads as follows:
“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. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Quoting from The Hill, these two men “argued in a law review (The Election Law Blog) “…that Trump is already constitutionally forbidden from serving in public office because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.” Section 3 is also called “The Disqualification Clause.” The only way it can be set aside is by a two thirds vote of both Houses of Congress. At this point, that will never happen with the current Congress.
They professors say that “all three houses have identified the attack on the Capitol as an insurrection, with Federal; Judges, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, as well as the Jan.6 House select Committee,” citing Trump as its central cause.
Section 3 does not require prior criminal conviction. That means that the multiple indictments are not necessary in adjudicating Trump’s holding a further office.
This might come as a surprise to a lot of Trump’s supporters and even those in the House and Senate, many of whom actually have a copy of the Constitution in their pockets.
The argument meets the requirements of two esteemed lawyers, Micael Luttig, a former appellate judge and law professor at Harvard, and Laurence Tribe, a retired constitutional law specialist at Harvard.
My sources are The Hill and the Election Law Blog.
I have other references from CNN and MSNBC as well as other sources, but too much on this would be confusing to readers.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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