Prominent conservative legal scholars are increasingly raising a constitutional argument that 2024 Republican candidate Donald Trump should be barred from the presidency because of his actions to overturn the previous presidential election result.
If only conservatives listened to scholars. Then they might consider a) the intent of the constitution and b) the practical implications of nominating someone so unfit. Alas.
If only conservatives listened to scholars
Then they wouldn’t be conservatives. Academia and reality are famous for having left wing bias.
“If you’re ignoring the constitution, it also means others see the second amendment as null and void.”
Maybe that gets their attention.
Lol. They absolutely do listen to scholars, and just like any other political group, they act on what they say when it’s convenient.
Federalist society is covering its bets here - putting up sone legal footholds for old establishment conservatism to use if they become handy - while doing so in such a way they don’t put themselves on the outs too unforgivably if Trump and his ilk weasel this way through this mess like they have so many times before.
It’s absolutely insane that it’s even up for fucking debate.
Is it though? Im not from the US so dont really have a dog in the fight, but hear me out.
On what basis should he not be allowed? Because he’s been indicted? Or because he was impeached? Both? Whatever the reason he would be barred would set a precedent.
Are there proper checks in place to ensure that the precedent set in place cant be met by simply stacking certain departments by a sitting president? The last thing you want is a pathway for a sitting president to effectively disqualify their opponent.
Clearly Trump is a monumental dickhead, but the problem is the people who vote for him more than anything
On what basis should he not be allowed?
Well, this is what the US constitution says:
Amendment XIV, Section 3.
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.
The question is whether those words apply to his actions, and who exactly has the responsibility to interpret them.
If he’s guilty of insurrection he should be accused, put to trial, and if convicted it should follow that he can’t run for president anymore.
It says Congress could override it with a 2/3rds majority in both houses, so if Team Red wins a landslide next year, they actually could vote to allow him to run regardless, even if he is actually convicted of something.
That’s a terrible thought.
The US constitution bans anyone who leads an insurrection against the government from holding public office.
Innocent until proven guilty still matters though, even when it seems like the justice system moves at a snail’s pace. His actions are coming down on him, and I think he’ll be behind bars before the election, but until then there’s no legal basis to block him from anything
It’s (legally) not decided whether he actually did.
He’s unfortunately smart enough to not simply say “let’s storm congress by force”. His messaging was vague enough that a trump-leaning judge could make an argument that he never intended this to happen. And letting things spiral out of control is not enough for an insurrection.
Ah, but you’re missing an important distinction. He committed treasonous acts with plausible deniability! And he’ll always be able to come up with new lies and new ways to abuse you faster than you’ll be able to disprove his lies or protect yourself, so you may as well restore the monarchy already and put him on top.
EDIT: On a serious note, the comment you replied to is absolutely correct in the point they were making. If Trump is barred from the Oval Office, and the evidence and the way the evidence are presented are anything less than rock solid, then future presidents will absolutely weaponize it as precedent to lock out their political opponents (as happens in every other broken democracy).
“No shit” - the rest of the sane world.
They moved on from experimental democracy with FPTP to better forms of representation that isn’t so easily manipulated by the rich.
Never forget, Hitler was part of a literal failed coup and imprisoned, and STILL was able to run for political offices. Insane.
Sure, but we shouldn’t need a legal argument.
We only need a reasonable electorate.
We have a reasonable electorate, inasmuch as Trump has no chance of ever winning the popular vote and never did. What we don’t have is a rational electoral system where all votes are equal.
We have a reasonable electorate
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Trump got something like 74,000,000 votes.
