By Harold Pease Ph.D.
Colorado is the latest state to attempt to use the 14th Amendment to remove Trump from the ballot. Others working to that end are: Alaska, California, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Rhode Island—all but one are blue states. Without a conviction the Amendment cannot remove Trump from the ballot. Amendment 14 does not apply to him without considerable distortion and Amendment 5 violations. The Supreme Court will oppose.
Most constitutional scholars have voiced that the 14th Amendment has no legal basis, standing, or historical perspective relative to the upcoming 2024 presidential election I join them. It is a post Civil War Amendment dealing with those involved in armed conflict where armies clashed for four long years resulting in 620,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands more injured.
Ironically it was open rebellion of the then Democrat Party against the then Republican Party. The Democrats then removed from the ballot the Republican candidate for president, Abraham Lincoln. The South called themselves rebels and the North called them traitors for decades thereafter. The North did not want any of those who brought the nation to war to be reelected to office to do the same again. Human slavery, supported by the Democrats, had to be removed from the nation entirely and permanently. The Democrat South reacted to the loss of their slaves by creating the KuKlux Klan which attempted to keep their black population subservient and suppressed with terror for the next 50 years.
How dare Democrats today compare their Civil War insurrection (rebellion) then, with the crowd gathered to encourage the Electoral College to function as it was designed in finishing the election of November 3, 2020 and a speech given by President Donald Trump asking his MAGA supporters to express themselves “peacefully and patriotically;” and when the College function was thwarted, to “go home in peace.” No firearms were present other than those of the police and the only person killed was Ashli Babbitt by a capitol police officer firing into the crowd.
Section 3 of the Amendment, the part they wish to use to remove Trump from the ballot, reads: ”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.”
The parts we embolden are those challenged by those who wish to disqualify Trump from elected office. Yes, he took an oath to defend and preserve the Constitution which is why the group gathered to encourage Vice President Mike Pence to send back to the states their votes when they did not come from the legislative branch of the states as constitutionally required. “In such manner as the legislature thereof may direct” (Artifice II, Section 1, Clause 2).
The words insurrection or rebellion are center piece in their argument. MAGA’s part of the demonstration at the Capitol January 6 was minuscule next to the Civil War from which Amendment 14 was derived; certainly more so when the side accused of insurrection had no weapons. It constitutes stretching the amendment beyond reason. And certainly MAGA participation was not against the Constitution as required by the language of the Amendment “against the same”—the Constitution. There exists no evidence that MAGA is, or has been, an enemy of the Constitution. They instead, were giving “aid and comfort” to preserving the Electoral College vote required of Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2-4. This was nullified by Nancy Pelosi as we have previously reported. Thus far, Trump hasn’t even been charged with insurrection under 18 U.S. C. Section 2383 (X22 Reports, Ep. 3157b, Sept. 6, 2023, 1:01:56).
Using the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump violates Amendment V of the Constitution in two places, one due process requiring conviction first as mentioned, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime…nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;”— Due process must precede punishment. This is even repeated in Amendment 14 Section I of the same Amendment being politicized and twisted by the Deep State Democrats to get Trump, such is the ignorance or contempt for the Constitution by the Left.
The other violation of the 5th Amendment is double jeopardy, “nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” On January 13, 2021, precisely one week before his term was to end, January 20, Trump’s second impeachment trial began. Why impeach him when he had only seven days left in his term? Their purpose was to disqualify him from ever running again—same as now—so emphatic were they then, and now, to destroy him. His impeachment trial was for “Incitement of Insurrection” with three specific charges 1) “Attempts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election,” 2) “Trump-Raffensperger phone call,” and 3) “January 6, United States Capitol attack.” In all three he was acquitted (Wikipedia, Second impeachment of Donald Trump ). These are precisely the same charges as Jack Smith and Georgia are recharging now—definitely double jeopardy and unconstitutional.
Finally, all documentation collected and used by the January 6 Select Committee provided the basis for Trump’s second impeachment, the supposed MAGA insurrection of January 6, and now in Georgia with Trump’s 4th indictment were destroyed by the Committee itself. Why? Almost all intelligence on January 6 coming forth the last two and a half years show the insurrection to be a “fedsurrection” formed and executed by the intelligence community themselves to set up MAGA and Trump as insurrectionists and the Select Committee was complicit in it.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column # 731.
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