‘Two prominent conservative law professors have concluded that Donald J. Trump is ineligible to be president under a provision of the Constitution that bars people who have engaged in an insurrection from holding government office. The professors are active members of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group, and proponents of originalism, the method of interpretation that seeks to determine the Constitution’s original meaning.
The professors — William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas — studied the question for more than a year and detailed their findings in a long article to be published next year in The University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
There is, the article said, “abundant evidence” that Mr. Trump engaged in an insurrection, including by setting out to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, trying to alter vote counts by fraud and intimidation, encouraging bogus slates of competing electors, pressuring the vice president to violate the Constitution, calling for the march on the Capitol and remaining silent for hours during the attack itself.
“It is unquestionably fair to say that Trump ‘engaged in’ the Jan. 6 insurrection through both his actions and his inaction,” the article said.’
www.nytimes.com
This is all moot, of course, since there is no Federal statutory authority to enforce Section Three of the 14th Amendment, although Section Five of the 14th Amendment authorizes Congress to do.
The states are at liberty to prevent an insurrectionist from running for president pursuant to Section Three, but that would be subject to protracted and inconclusive court challenges – and not all the states would act to enforce Section Three.
The professors — William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas — studied the question for more than a year and detailed their findings in a long article to be published next year in The University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
There is, the article said, “abundant evidence” that Mr. Trump engaged in an insurrection, including by setting out to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, trying to alter vote counts by fraud and intimidation, encouraging bogus slates of competing electors, pressuring the vice president to violate the Constitution, calling for the march on the Capitol and remaining silent for hours during the attack itself.
“It is unquestionably fair to say that Trump ‘engaged in’ the Jan. 6 insurrection through both his actions and his inaction,” the article said.’
Conservative Case Emerges to Disqualify Trump for Role on Jan. 6
Two law professors active in the Federalist Society wrote that the original meaning of the 14th Amendment makes Donald Trump ineligible to hold government office.
This is all moot, of course, since there is no Federal statutory authority to enforce Section Three of the 14th Amendment, although Section Five of the 14th Amendment authorizes Congress to do.
The states are at liberty to prevent an insurrectionist from running for president pursuant to Section Three, but that would be subject to protracted and inconclusive court challenges – and not all the states would act to enforce Section Three.
