The 14th Amendment says no one who engaged or supported insurrection deserves to hold office. That ought to include Trump
the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a Colorado case about whether former President Trump’s deep involvement in the deadly events of Jan. 6, 2021, should disqualify him from running again.
Sadly, I think it’s a good bet that the court’s conservative majority will side with Trump and allow his name on the ballot. It’s the least fraught way out for the court, mired in scandals of its own making and undoubtedly loath to throw more fuel on the raging election-year American partisan political fire.
I’ve had mixed feelings about this case since the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that allowing Trump on its state ballot would violate Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which, boiled down, forbids anyone who has engaged in or supported insurrection against the American government to hold office.
Plenty of Trump’s legal allies have argued that Section 3 does not apply to him, claiming, for instance, that the president is not an “officer” of the United States, or that Section 3 only prohibits a candidate from holding office, not seeking it. But as the motley group of Colorado voters who brought the case against Trump put it, you have to engage in “pedantic wordplay” to not apply Section 3 to Trump.
The former president, driven by narcissism and power, has shown himself to have little regard for the rule of law, the Constitution or the American people. And yet, part of me thinks that allowing him to stay on the ballot would be the healthiest solution for the country.
Trump ought to get whomped by President Biden in November and then slink away.
