Apparently not content with a 37-count federal indictment against former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department’s interference in the 2024 election, a pair of left-wing groups have resurrected the idea of banning former President Donald Trump from running for the White House under the 14th Amendment.
According to The Epoch Times, Free Speech for People and MI Familia Vota will hold multiple rallies for the next week outside the offices of the secretaries of states of Oregon, Georgia, Colorado, and California.
The groups are trotting out the argument, made by some Democrats last year, that Trump should be ineligible for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In the news: Report: Trump Special Prosecutor Has History Of Playing Fast And Loose With Ethics, Law
“Because of his role in inciting, encouraging, and supporting the January 6th insurrection, Trump is constitutionally ineligible for any future run for office,” Free Speech for People argues on its website, according to the Times.
As The Free Press reported in December, Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island rallied 40 other House Democrats to file a bill to ban Trump from the ballot. The bill was introduced about a month after Trump announced he would seek a second term in the White House in 2024.
“Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election. You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy,” Cicilline said in a press release at the time.
“The 14th Amendment makes clear that based on his past behavior, Donald Trump is disqualified from ever holding federal office again and, under Section 5, Congress has the power to pass legislation to implement this prohibition.”
In the news: Trump Says “Travel Ban Is Coming Back” If Re-Elected “We Gotta Get Them All Out”
The Free Press also noted that this tactic doesn’t seem to have much traction because of the original intent of the part of the 14th Amendment that Democrats want to use against Trump.
The law bans from public office anyone who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” That was aimed at former Confederates after the Civil War.
In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant enacted a law that removed all the disqualification provisions applied to most former Confederates. Grant also directed federal prosecutors to drop charges against former Confederates and pardoned almost all former rebels.
The Times noted that Democrats had considered this idea almost from the moment that Trump left office.
The paper cited a January 2021 interview Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois gave to CBS News, in which he dismissed the notion of weaponizing the 14th Amendment against Trump.
“Because the 14th Amendment is not explicit on how you determine whether someone participated in an insurrection,” Durbin said at the time. “If they had been convicted of that in a court of law, then I can understand how you can use it as a predicate for prohibiting people from running for office.”
In the news: Trump Launches ‘Farmers For Trump’ Coalition In Iowa
“But there is a real serious question, if that conviction has not taken place, whether the Congress can have a finding, or the Senate can have a finding that they are guilty of insurrection and whether that’s sufficient. So it’s unresolved.”
In response to the latest gambit by the far-left groups this week, Jeff Clark, a former Justice Department official, tweeted on Saturday,
“Have the Dems ever been as afraid of getting trounced by a [Republican] presidential candidate this badly before? Nothing like it. It’s 14th [Amendment] disqualification now. They’re pulling out every stop & every start & every pause they can think of against Trump.”
Android Users, Click To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook and Twitter. Signup for our free newsletter.
We can’t do this without your help; visit our GiveSendGo page and donate any dollar amount; every penny helps.