Can Trump be on the ballot? It's the Supreme Court's biggest election test since Bush v. Gore
lemmefixdat4u @ lemmefixdat4u @lemmy.world Posts 1Comments 242Joined 2 yr. ago
lemmefixdat4u @ lemmefixdat4u @lemmy.world
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The 14th Amendment, Section 3, was written to prohibit anyone who participated on the losing side of the Civil War from holding office. None of those prohibited were convicted of insurrection. This is very much like the age requirement for the President. It's a qualification - must not have committed insurrection or given comfort to those who did. You might argue that Trump himself did not directly participate, but he's certainly given plenty of comfort to those who did, with promises of a Presidential pardon.
As a qualification, it requires no judicial intervention unless challenged. Trump is free to challenge the grounds on which he is disqualified from the ballot, but being convicted for insurrection is not a requirement. These were things discussed during the ratification of the 14th, as was whether the amendment applied to the President (it does). I guess we'll see just how principled the "originalist" conservative judges are.