The 14th Amendment, Section 3, states that:
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.
This is a straightforward protection for the American people so that they are not forced into a tyrannical or despotic governance if an insurrection were to occur. Well, an attempted insurrection did occur on January 6, 2021 when former President Trump could not come to terms with the fact that he lost the election to President Biden. Trump rallied up his supporters and demanded they march on the Capitol and fight for him. The statements he made on social media fully characterize his intent to overthrow the election that he had lost.
Trump should not be on any ballot in any state if those states fully uphold the Constitution. It’s absolutely mind boggling that he has any presence in elected politics because he has incited an insurrection.
Now, the super-ultra-conservative MAGAs will attempt to refute and downplay all of the evidence to the contrary because they want to remain in power, but they made the choice to not remain in power and should not be electable based on their insurrectionist propensities. They are a threat to the Constitution and the fact that so many states have allowed an insurrectionist on their state ballots shows the depth that these super-ultra-conservatives have retained power. It’s ironic that these people proclaim they stand for democracy when they outright attack all aspects of a functioning democracy such as the Constitution.
This is why it is imperative that all voters vote out everyone from elected office because the rot is beyond repair on both sides. How have the Democrats allowed for Trump to be on any ballots? This should have been stopped months ago. Not just the fact that the Democrats have made little effort to remove Trump from the ballots, but they are doing little to address the bias from the Supreme Court justices who were appointed under Trump. Congress should be holding a special session demanding these members of SCOTUS recuse themselves from these hearings, but all that the Democrats have done is sent a strongly-worded letter to these Supreme Court justices that were appointed by Trump. No member of the Supreme Court should be able to rule on anything related to a president who appointed them, period. Keep the bias out of the court and instill confidence in the justice system. This is where the US has a gross imbalance in our system of checks and balances. There needs to be a drastic change to the Supreme Court, such as term limits and financial disclosures. The American people should be the ones to vote on the justices, not Congress. Unfortunately, without these changes we are facing a biased court that is not protecting the rights of American people or the Constitution.
Justices are concerned that states might use this as a means to attack candidates and that Congress must create laws around Section 3, not the states acting on their own. However, the Supreme Court stated that states must do just that in regards to abortion rights, and did not defer a woman’s right to abortion back to Congress but left that decision up to the states. This is hypocritical and inconsistent logic from the Supreme Court.
Women’s lives and their healthcare can be governed and directed by individual states impacting the mortality of a woman, but whether someone is or is not on the ballot is way too much power for the state and Congress should have say over that because those implications are far more important than the lives of women. Okay.
Chief Justice Roberts questioned that the 14th Amendment was to restrict the overstep of states power, but he, and the other justices are ignoring the directive of the 14th Amendment which states that if someone does lead an insurrection, they cannot run for office. It can’t be any clearer and does not need to go to Congress to be hashed out any further. The real question which they are dancing around is if Trump was involved in the insurrection.
Why would the Supreme Court play dumb like this? They do not want the heat from the super-ultra-conservative base because it is obvious to anyone who watched the news and followed the events on January 6th, that Trump instigated, planned, and participated in the entire insurrection. If they play dumb, and defer this to Congress, then they are not facing the wrath of the same base that was involved in the insurrection and their violent tactics. These justices are probably a bit scared. They also want to remain in favor with Trump as many of the justices are conservative. That is not justification for throwing the case like they are, because they have the power to uphold the Constitution and they are choosing not to out of personal fear and political fear. What they are doing is exactly what the super-ultra-conservatives want them to do. Now this extreme conservatives know that their violent ways and threats have silenced the Constitution in their favor.
States have always chosen who is on their ballots and the Supreme Court is challenging the entire process as an overstep of power. Each state has their own requirements for candidates and to change that to a national system of requirements is unlikely to ever occur as that would infringe on states’ rights. Just like the Supreme Court argued that each state has the right to create their own individual abortion laws, now they are reversing course and saying states cannot refuse a nominee with their own individual requirements.
What the Supreme Court should have stated today was that Trump is ineligible to run for president based on his actions on January 6th, and that the actions Colorado took to remove him from the state ballot are the actions that all states should have taken.
This is not an issue of states’ rights at all like Chief Justice Roberts is claiming. The states did not overstep anything, Trump did. The 14th Amendment clearly says that anyone involved in an insurrection cannot run for presidency. Colorado was being diligent with the removal of Trump as a nominee. In the final line of Section 3, the ban can be lifted through a two-thirds vote of both Houses, which Trump’s lawyers twisted to mean that if they can still have the ability to have their nomination put to a vote then there is no need for Section 3 at all. Yet, this amendment was written with the intent to protect Americans from tyranny for a reason and a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress is difficult to achieve especially if it is for someone who tried to overthrow that actual congress. Who would want someone in that threatened not only democracy, but their life?
What is concerning is the Supreme Court’s attack on the states power to choose who is on their ballot or not because each individual state has their qualification process. In this instance, it was not about qualifications but that the nominee is actively breaking the 14th Amendment and some states are doing their part in upholding the Constitution. The real question is for the other states that allowed Trump onto their ballots and why they are allowing Trump on their ballots which breaks the 14th Amendment?
Lastly, Congress has had years to create laws for “enforcing” the 14th Amendment, and they have not. They have left that up to the states to decide. Congress has not sought to remove or diminish that power from the states because members of Congress understand the frameworks that each state has created for the voting process.
We need changes to all branches of our government. Today’s Supreme Court hearing shows how horribly broken all branches are, and why we need to take action to repair the broken down system of checks and balances.
Protest
Vote 3rd party
Boycott
BE UNGOVERNABLE
Please extend your energy to countries and people facing atrocities and genocide- Palestine, Sudan, Congo, West Papua, the Rohingyas, Armenians, and the Uyghurs.
Articles for reference:
Politico: 5 key moments that point to a Trump victory at the Supreme Court
Scotusblog: Supreme Court appears unlikely to kick Trump off Colorado ballot
Find Law: Disqualification from Public Office Under the 14th Amendment