Does a civil-war-era-ban-on-insurrectionists.html” title=”Is Donald Trump subject to a civil-war-era ban on insurrectionists?”>civil-war-era ban on insurrectionists apply to Donald Trump?
THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS prohibits wearing cloth woven of two different kinds of material; Britain’s Parliament forbids entry to anyone wearing armour; and America’s constitution bans oathbreakers who have committed insurrection or rebellion from holding office again. Such antiquated restrictions are mostly just historical oddities. But sometimes they can be resurrected centuries later. That ignored section of the 14th Amendment to the constitution, written after the civil war to bar officials who had joined the confederacy in order to break up the republic, is suddenly getting a lot of attention. Lest The Economist be accused of selective editing, here it is:
“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.”
You may be able to see where this is going. Donald Trump took an oath of office when he became president. His violent supporters staged an insurrection on January 6th 2021 when they broke into the Capitol and sought to overturn the certification of Mr Trump’s election loss specifically—and America’s constitutional order generally. This violence was not just aided and comforted by Mr Trump—who even in the aftermath of the attack could not prevent himself from saying “we love you, you’re very special” to the rioters—but begotten by his campaign to undermine faith in America’s elections. And Mr Trump, the…
2023-11-21 16:16:44
Source from www.economist.com
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