Trump Disqualified?  by Tom Reynolds

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled, in an unprecedented decision, to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. 

The Maine Secretary of State barred former President Trump from Maine’s primary ballot. The official statement on the Secretary of State’s website says that Trump: ”…is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment”. (Emphasis added.)

Both disqualifications are under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  That these were obviously partisan decisions that ignore the law and prior precedent goes beyond question.  (But that has never stopped the Left, so why would it now?)

A little more about Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

First:

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868.  The basis of Colorado and Maine’s decision was Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment which prohibits the election or appointment to any federal or state office of any person who had held any of certain offices and then engaged in insurrection, rebellion, or treason.  The last sentence in Section 3 states: “But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability”. 

Congress removed that disability from most of the people covered.  The pertinent parts of Section 3 don’t exist anymore because the Amnesty Act of 1872 was passed by the 42nd United States Congress (voice vote in the House and 38-2 in the Senate.) 

The 1872 Act removed office-holding disqualifications against most of the secessionists who rebelled in the American Civil War, except for "Senators and Representatives of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.”  (Note: The Presidency is NOT one of these exceptions that are still ineligible.) 

For their rationale, Colorado and Maine cited a law that does not exist anymore.

Second:

Amendment V states that no person shall: “… be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law.”  Certainly, the right to run for the presidency should be covered by that. 

No federal court has convicted Trump of engaging in ‘insurrection or rebellion.’ The only thing resembling a trial was Trump’s second impeachment - which acquitted Trump.  

There has been no due process of law.  (Another one of those constitutional issues the Left conveniently ignores.)

Third:

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment originally applied only to individuals who were previously a ‘member of Congress,’ an ‘officer of the United States,’ or a state official who had previously taken an oath to support the U S Constitution.  Individuals who are elected—such as the president and vice president—are not officers within the meaning of Section 3 both before and after the Amnesty Act of 1872. 

Fourth:

Section 5 of the 14th Amendment says: “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article”. 

Prior court rulings have held that Section 3 is not self-executing and Congress has never passed any federal law providing for enforcement, meaning that courts such as the Colorado Supreme Court and Maine’s Secretary of State have no legal authority under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  It is federal law and they cannot enforce Section 3 because they are not federal authorities and because Congress has not given anyone the power to enforce it.. 

Colorado and Maine decided to remove the constitutional right of American voters to make their own decision on who they believe should be president.

This election interference should swiftly be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which should take this case in order to short-circuit all the similar meritless challenges that are being filed in numerous states to remove Trump from the ballot.

But this is more than just an attempt to keep Trump off the ballot, it is a blatant attempt to distract him from campaigning by tying him up in court cases that have no legal foundation.

It is also a message to all Americans; don’t disagree with Democrat run governments or they will get you.  The U S Constitution does not exist in “Blue states.”

And the Democrat media is saying that Donald Trump will destroy democracy if he is elected!  (Which ignores that the USA is a Republic.)