Trump critics push idea of using 14th Amendment to remove his name from ballots
It's become clear as fresh glass by now that the left's fantasy of hamstringing former President Donald Trump so badly that he's forced out of the running for 2024 has backfired in a tremendous way.
The former president and his campaign team used his now-iconic mugshot from the Georgia 2020 election case to raise record amounts of cash, all while Trump rides comfortably at the top of all state and national polls with a double-digit lead on his closest competitors.
Because of that, according to Byron York with the Washington Examiner, Trump's TDS-riddled critics on the left are now pushing a potential new method to ensuring Trump doesn't have a chance at running next year.
York wrote:
They are now exploring the idea that Trump is already disqualified from running for office. State election boards, or secretaries of state, they say, can, and should, simply remove his name from the ballot in their states. There's no need for a hearing, or a trial, or a legal ruling, or legislation, or any sort of adjudication process that might get messy. It's already done. Voila! Trump is off the ballot. Let's move on.
He went on to explain that there's a growing movement to convince secretaries of state and other state election officials to move to remove Trump from the 2024 ballots, citing the 14th Amendment - specifically, Section 3.
This magical result occurs, proponents say, by way of the 14th Amendment. Section 3 of the amendment prohibits anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against [the U.S.], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," from ever holding public office. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868.
It was noted that Section 3 was last used against Confederate officials, and has been shelved ever since, given there was no need for it.
Former federal Judge Michael McConnell wrote that Section 3 has "played no significant role in American governance since 1872 and was regarded by many scholars as moribund."
York also noted that legal scholars, especially the CNN and MSNBC types, are saying that secretaries of state could simply take the action of removing Trump from the ballot, though it would undoubtedly cause an uproar in the streets and in the court system.
There's also increasing pressure on former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also a 2024 GOP candidate, to push for the removal of Trump's name off the ballots.
"Chris Christie is legally injured by Donald Trump's name being on the ballot," Calabresi wrote. "They draw from some similar voters. Christie should sue, if necessary, to get Trump's name off the ballot. Then the Supreme Court can open the dictionary and tell us what we all already know — that Trump incited an insurrection and is disqualified from being on any primary or general election ballots next year."
York noted:
The anti-Trump law professors are telling election officials across the country that they can just take Trump's name off now. In fact, if they don't, they might find themselves the target of lawsuits from anti-Trump forces who demand Trump be removed.
Conservatives have fired back at the idea of using the 14th Amendment to evoke such a power without a conviction. Charlie Kirk was one of them.
NEW—"Legal scholars" are arguing that local elected officials at both the state and county level have the power to unilaterally remove Trump from the ballot on the basis of the 14th Amendment—WITHOUT even so much as a conviction.
If even one radical Secretary of State or county… pic.twitter.com/b1JMQhpKej
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 21, 2023
Only time will tell if any secretaries of state move forward with such an unprecedented and dangerous move. Sadly, a few might try it to gain notoriety, so Republicans, as Kirk said, need to be ready to fight back.