When will the Democrats learn?
Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter in Illinois has removed former President Donald Trump from the GOP primary ballot in that state because of his participation in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Oh, excuse me, the insurrection at the Capitol, as the Dems like to call it. Listen to them long enough and you get visions of Fort Sumter in your head. Did I miss the Second Civil War somehow?
Porter, who ran as a Democrat, said that the prohibition contained in the Civil War-era 14th Amendment against insurrectionists holding office was “compelling.”
It’s the same rationale used by a Colorado judge in an attempt to ban Trump from the GOP ballot in that state. The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up that case.
Being a judge, you’d think that Porter would know what’s in the U.S. Constitution when it comes to eligibility to run for president.
There are three requirements: the person must be at least 35 years of age, a natural born citizen of the United States, and a resident of the country for 14 years.
That’s it. Satisfy those requirements, as Trump certainly does, and you’re free to run for president. State judges don’t get to make that call.
But even if you wanted to invoke the 14th Amendment, Trump hasn’t been convicted of insurrection when it comes to Jan. 6. So how can the 14th Amendment be used against him?
On top of that, Jan. 6 wasn’t even an insurrection, at least not as 19th century lawmakers who’d been through the Civil War and wrote the amendment understood the word.
They were dealing with the fallout from an actual armed rebellion that spread across several states, killed an estimated 620,000 people, and was waged by military and political leaders who had turned their backs on the United States and sworn allegiance to another government.
That’s an insurrection.
If oral arguments are any indication, the Supreme Court will find Colorado’s effort to bar Trump unconstitutional.
As Justice Elena Kagan wondered at the time, why should a single state get to determine who gets to be president of the United States? Why should that state make that decision not only for its own citizens but for the whole nation?
Kagan, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, called such a possibility “extraordinary.” It would open up a Pandora’s box of GOP states bouncing Dem candidates from the ballot and vice versa.
But Democratic-led states will no doubt keep trying to bar Trump, no matter what the court rules.
And they’ll also do their best to continue to wage “lawfare” against Trump on other matters, such as the ridiculous fraud case launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
If real estate types are going to be prosecuted for inflating the value of their properties, we’d better start building a lot more prisons.
And, yes, Trump can still run for president even if he finds himself in jail because of the myriad legal cases against him.
Eugene V. Debs ran on the Socialist Party line for president in 1920.
Debs, a trade unionist and founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World, was in a federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Ga., during the campaign after being convicted of sedition against the United States.
And Debs didn’t do badly either, getting 914,000 votes that year.
Oh, and Debs pledged to pardon himself if elected.
Something else for Dems to chew on should Trump win in November.
No, state judges can’t just bar Trump from running for president (opinion)
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03.03.2024
When will the Democrats learn?
Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter in Illinois has removed former President Donald Trump from the GOP primary ballot in that state because of his participation in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Oh, excuse me, the insurrection at the Capitol, as the Dems like to call it. Listen to them long enough and you get visions of Fort Sumter in your head. Did I miss the Second Civil War somehow?
Porter, who ran as a Democrat, said that the prohibition contained in the Civil War-era 14th Amendment against insurrectionists holding office was “compelling.”
It’s the same rationale used by a Colorado judge in an attempt to ban Trump from the GOP ballot in that state. The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up that case.
Being a judge, you’d think that Porter would know what’s in the U.S. Constitution........
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