Apparently unsatisfied with dozens of criminal charges and an orchestrated smear campaign by leftist news outlets, a group of activists are now trying to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in Colorado.
The flimsy premise hinges on the assertion that Trump violated his oath of office by challenging the outcome of the 2020 election and allegedly “recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob” on Jan. 6, 2021.
Of course, plenty of legal scholars have explained why an invocation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment is utterly ridiculous and inherently dangerous.
According to Daily Caller:
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley and others have said that calls to use the 14th Amendment against Trump are not realistic.
“I think it’s the most dangerous theory that has emerged in decades. I think it’s entirely unsupported by the text and the history of the 14th Amendment. This provision was written after the Civil War of an actual rebellion where hundreds of thousands of people died — there was an army on the other side. They had their own foreign policy,” Turley said Tuesday night on Fox News.
Others weighed with their own criticism of the ploy.
'Absurd, Dangerous, Unconstitutional': Alan Dershowitz Challenges Professors to Constitutional Debate
Dershowitz contests the push to use the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from future ballots, calling it a misinterpretation and unconstitutional.
“… the 14th amendment was… pic.twitter.com/o9Z7zarPIf
— UngaTheGreat (@UngaTheGreat) September 2, 2023
The Jolt: Some want to bar Donald Trump from running again using a constitutional clause dating to Reconstruction. Georgia’s top elections official warned that invoking the 14th Amendment to keep Trump off the 2024 ballot would set a dangerous precedent.
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) September 7, 2023
Disqualification under Section 3 of 14th Amendment requires federal criminal conviction—with evidence beyond reasonable doubt, unanimous jury, and conviction upheld on appeal—for rebellion or insurrection under 18 U.S.C. § 2383.
Anything short is illegal.
And very dangerous.… pic.twitter.com/nJK9vTb36C
— 🇺🇲Salty Texan (@texan_maga) September 4, 2023
The 14th Amendment is being used to try and keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot in Colorado. This is a dangerous theory & unsupported by the text & history of the 14th Amendment. #14thAmendment #2024PresidentialElection #Ballot #DonaldTrump #Elections2024…
— Will 🇺🇸 (@NoLeftTurns) September 6, 2023
Elections should be decided by voters, not judges. Efforts to bar Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment are dangerous to our democracy, where the people should have a free choice of candidates. My latest for @WNGdotorg explains why: https://t.co/92h50GCWFc
— Daniel Suhr (@danielsuhr) September 7, 2023
Trump himself weighed in on social media with a clear excoriation of the motives behind this push to exclude him from the ballot.
As ABC News reported:
He claimed in a new social media post, late Monday, that “almost all legal scholars have voiced opinions that the 14th Amendment has no legal basis or standing relative to the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election.” …
Trump, in his new post, called any such legal challenges invoking the 14th Amendment simply “election interference.”
Here’s a clip of Turley’s remarks:
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