While I think attempts to use the 14th Amendment to keep Trump off the ballot are interesting, Trump will prevail in the Court for a number of reasons. First of all, the wording is ambiguous, and poorly written law makes for ambiguous decisions. That means the Republican-dominated Supreme Court can find find justification to rule for Trump.
Second, when the 14th Amendment was written, ballots were not printed by states. They were printed by the parties. It was a different system, and there was obviously no intent for a state to keep people off the ballot, since states didn’t even produce the ballots.
Third, the 14th Amendment talks about “officers.” It was pointed out to me by an attorney this evening that the wording seems to be geared at officers in the Confederate Army who had taken an oath to defend the U.S.
Fourth, it would seem that the final arbiter of this would be Congress who could refuse to seat someone who was the subject of the Amendment. That would seem to be the intent of the wording.
Fifth, Trump has not been convicted of sedition, even though we all know he encouraged his followers to seize the Capitol to prevent the electoral college vote count.
Finally, it would be much better to defeat this clown and would-be dictator at the polls. If he is removed by the states, his supporters will always claim that he was denied his fair election. They will claim that anyway when he loses, but at least they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on, any more than they did after 2020 when anyone not in the MAGA cult knew damn well he had lost.
I think we should do anything and everything to keep Trump out of the election. Not only will he try to overthrow the government again, but he's a compulsive liar and an idiot besides.
ReplyDeleteAnother reader let me know that Lawrence Tribe thinks the 14th Amendment case is a good one. This has shaken me. I really don't want to disagree with Lawrence Tribe.
ReplyDeleteBah humbug
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