“I will be asking the attorney general’s office for their input,” Secretary of State David Scanlan told the Globe. “And ultimately whatever is decided is probably going to require some judicial input.”
“I will be asking the attorney general’s office for their input,” Secretary of State David Scanlan told the Globe. “And ultimately whatever is decided is probably going to require some judicial input.”
A debate among constitutional scholars over former president Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential race has reverberated through the public consciousness in recent weeks and reached the ears of New Hampshire’s top election official.
Secretary of State David Scanlan, who will oversee the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in just five months, said he’s received several letters lately that urge him to take action based on a legal theory that claims the Constitution empowers him to block Trump from the ballot.
Scanlan, a Republican, said he’s listening and will seek legal advice to ensure that his team thoroughly understands the arguments at play.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
This does not require judicial input. The language is clear. Trump is, along with many co-defendants, disqualified from holding any civil or military office.
The judicial input is on whether Trump qualifies to be included in that described group which is disqualified. The problem with the self-executing clause here is that of course the described group of people are barred but who decides who qualifies?
That is for state officials whose duty it is to ensure that only qualified persons are on the ballot to enforce. Indeed, if those state officials refuse or neglect to enforce the US Constitution, they could be held personally responsible.
The language specifically does not require any conviction. A conviction would make 14A S3 undeniably apply, but a lack of conviction doesn't make it not apply.
I doubt they put every Confederate on trial. Still I imagine there must be some court ruling for this to be the case. IANAL but a state court may make this decision and bar him from running in their state.
"But that was only an amendment and it was written so long ago!" - Somebody with the second amendment printed out and framed above their gun masturbatorium.
The gun Masturbatorium is a sacred workshop of Cult Masturbatio of the Adeptus Mechanicus, they are in charge of "Jacking" the most ancient and revered ranged weapons. Youre thinking of the Techno-lustris run jointly by the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Dark Mechanicum.
You're absolutely right, but we live in a time where just recently poor people could have their lives DESTROYED over a joint, while on the other hand, a president can 100% knowingly tell an enormous crowd who he knows wants violence to "go to the capitol and fight fight fight" and that's somehow completely a grey area and our hands are just tied.
Somehow all the testimony that he was watching the coverage of it gleefully doesn't matter. The fact that even ignoring everything else it ought to be a crime that he didn't ask them to stop. Oh it's all just our opinion that he committed treason don't you see?
Most of the legal minds I've heard discuss this think it's pretty interesting philosophically, but not at all actionable. Former US attorneys Preet Bharara and Chuck Rosenberg mentioned it in a recent podcast that I found super insightful.
No, you’re referring to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It’s not self-executing. I’m not sure what the triggering mechanism would be, and I agree with you. It ain’t going to happen. Interesting intellectual exercise. It sounds a lot like my three years in law school. If you look at my transcript, you would see it didn’t go that well.
Except that it very clearly is self-executing. I'll paste it in here again for easy reference:
Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Breaking it down:
What is the disqualification from office stated in the section title? "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, ..."
Who does this apply to? Anyone "who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
What is the remediation for this disqualification? "Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
As a comparison, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 reads:
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
If a 23 year old Frenchman decided to run for US President, what would happen? Would there need to be some kind of trial or judicial review? No - state officials would disqualify Mr. Young French from appearing on the ballot. And then, if Mr. Young French wanted to protest that decision, he would initiate a court filing, after having been disqualified.
14A S3 is self-executing. The reason Rosenberg in the podcast says he's "not sure what the triggering mechanism would be" is because there isn't one.
The only reason it isn't actionable is because the SCOTUS's current concept of standing leaves entire provisions of the Constitution unenforceable. If no one has standing to sue for an unconstitutional act or omission, then it renders the provision meaningless. Which is absolute and utter bullshit. Every single election official that lets Trump on the ballot should be sued in federal court seeking a writ of mandamus forcing them to follow the requirements set upon them under the Constitution.
Trump is, along with many co-defendants, disqualified from holding any civil or military office.
Want to prove that? Last I checked he's not been found guilty of any crime?
Would you support this if it was Biden or Hillary in the same legal situation? How about we respect the judicial proceeding and stop trying to jump the gun, before it's made into a political maneuver?
The amendment does not require formal conviction of a crime, and after the Civil War it was used extensively without formal convictions.
And obviously we’d support that if Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden tried to stage a coup. Would sort of insane bozo would still support a candidate after that?
Trump was literally dancing during the insurrection and there is a video of it. Dude was gleefully happy about one of the darkest days in American history.
It's not jumping the gun, you just have your head in the sand.
If it is true that either of them "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the [United States], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," then yes.
The sheer number of charges against Trump now gives conservative jurists cover to make these statements. Democrats are probably happy to let the debate over qualification drag out as it hangs a cloud over the whole Republican primary process.
Yeah, this isn't a click bate headline that ends in a question mark. This is a story about the steps being done to answer that question before the first primary.
Parties are parties. The republican party could have a squid reach for ballons with candidates names on them to choose their nominee. The only thing that the consitution disqualifies him is running in the general.
Of course, if the Republicans had a rule saying only valid candidates for general can run in the primary, then there is trouble, as he won't get disqualified until after the trial, which is after the primary.
The NH AG, John Formella, seems like a party man. I would be surprised if he would agree with this argument, especially in the administration of Chris "I'm a Trump guy through and through" Sununu.
Be especially wary of Republicans who are pushing this "ineligible even without judicial input" argument. Many of them would love to rid themselves of the Trump albatross, but even more, would LOOOOVE the idea of simply declaring people ineligible with no oversight.
To most people, Trump's involvement in Jan 6 is obvious, but without a conviction, the door is wide open for people like DeSantis and his lackies to just start erasing names off the contender list with the thinnest of justifications. "Oh, Biden supports the Paris Climate Accords. He doesn't believe in American sovereignty, which is tantamount to treason, therefore he won't be on the Florida ballot in 2024."
Republicans will do it now anyway. Their only regret at this point is that they hadn't thought of it before. The GOP has become so baldfaced uncouth, they don't care anymore if their dirty tricks are performed in broad daylight. Watch trump has taught them there is (so far) little to no repercussions for breaking "tradition" or "precedence".
This is an excellent point and why we should allow some kind of process. I'm not sure what that process should be, but something that can't be easily abused by Republicans.
Wouldnt need to, he would just say its legal to force you to breath and have navy/marines strap you to a chair and force a tube down your throat to make it happen.
Yeah... This would be one of the worst things possible.
The idea you could take someone to court to disqualify them means you're allowing the courts into politics.
But hey I already see people here celebrating this because "Fuck Trump" Right? Yet don't see they're creating a new loaded gun that can be turned against them in the next election...
And before someone says "Four cases"... any bar would be able to be met by a politically motivated group, but again you do you, just realize shit like this has long lasting repercussions.
Meh. I don’t really care. With the bias in the senate and all the Gerrymandering on the state level, we might as well have the crazies disqualify candidates as random. Look at Georgia and kemp, they are already doing it. Let’s let them do it more so people wake up and realize this is not acceptable.