As former President Donald Trump dominates the Republican presidential primary, some liberal groups and legal experts contend that a rarely used clause of the Constitution prevents him from being president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The 14th Amendment bars from office anyone who once took an oath to uphold the Constitution but then “engaged” in “insurrection or rebellion” against it. A growing number of legal scholars say the post-Civil War clause applies to Trump after his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraging his backers to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Two liberal nonprofits pledge court challenges should states’ election officers place Trump on the ballot despite those objections.

The effort is likely to trigger a chain of lawsuits and appeals across several states that ultimately would lead to the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly in the midst of the 2024 primary season. The matter adds even more potential legal chaos to a nomination process already roiled by the front-runner facing four criminal trials.

  • norb
    link
    fedilink
    910 months ago

    You should still be nervous because he only won due to Electoral College numbers, not votes. He just needs to win in the right places and it’s a done deal. And if anything, quite a few of those “right places” are firmly on his side already. He only lost last time because a few of the “right places” didn’t go his way, which they still probably can.

    • Evie
      link
      fedilink
      410 months ago

      This is what scares me… we are powerless in a sense to the electoral votes… and the packed supreme court is equally as scary should these lawsuits fall on their feet… we already know the outcome of that…

      • @escapesamsara@discuss.online
        link
        fedilink
        210 months ago

        We aren’t ‘powerless,’ but we really don’t want to do the solution. Just 300,000 blue-voting california residents in the right states would ensure Democrat control of the executive for at least the next 10 election cycles; around 2 million moving to the right states and districts would ensure at least a blue majority in congress as well. But I ain’t signing up to move. And the DNC isn’t offering relocation vouchers. And it’s probably not legal for them to offer to pay for relocation for political purposes.