14th Amendment Section 3

Politics & Elections
1

Haven’t seen this mentioned before, and I don’t know where else to put it.

Briefly, Section 3 of the Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War, prohibits any person from holding any civil or military office in the United States who, having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, engages in insurrection or rebellion.

Picking out just the relevant phrases but fully retaining the meaning and context, it reads as follows:

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 … who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same

Full text here.

IANAL, but some constitutional scholars have opined that Trump is at this point not eligible to hold elected office. He has arguably engaged in insurrection not once, but several times, by egging on his followers on Jan 6 and then hinting that Inauguration Day will be another opportunity. It was certainly more than enough to get him banned from social media. How he can be considered fit for the highest office in the land is mind-boggling.

2

Section 5 entrusts Congress with enforcing Section 3. Combine that with the highly political implications of removing a sitting president. The result: whether Mr. Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” for the purpose of Amendment XIV is a political question - don’t expect the courts to issue an emergency injunction.

~Max

3

I noticed, however, after I posted that, that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is prominently mentioned in the Article of impeachment, so it has not been overlooked. I was glad to see that.