Trump hasn’t officially announced that he’s running for president for a third time, but the party he seized in 2016 still seems to be cool with a failed blogger who now lives in resorts. Meanwhile, his successor, Joe Biden, claims that competing against him again would be fun. His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, doesn’t think he’ll do it. Others, though, are not happy that a serial liar and almost-insurrectionist could be back in the White House.
As per The Hill, a handful of Democrats have been quietly exploring a way to prevent Trump from running again. Their solution? The 14th Amendment, specifically Section 3, a Civil War era addition that bars anyone from holding “any office” in the United States if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the nation.
How likely is that Democrats may use this nuclear option? “If anything, the idea has waxed and waned,” said Harvard Law School constitutional expert Laurence Tribe. “I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3.”
Among the lawmakers who’ve floated using the 14th amendment are representatives Jamie Raskin, Jerry Nadler and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The move has been discussed as early as after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which Trump is accused of starting. Back then, he said the procedure would require “more research.”
Meanwhile, Trump has been alternately fuming about Joe Biden’s speech on the anniversary of the Capitol attack and continuing to downplay it. The former president has a lifelong habit of evading any serious punishment, so perhaps those with the power to stop him from returning to D.C. might want to speed up that research.
(Via The Hill)