Editor, The Beacon:
In his examination of the attorney for the plaintiffs in the matter of Anderson v. Griswold, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. posed the following question: “The whole point of the 14th Amendment was to restrict state power, right?”
No, Mr. Chief Justice, not even close. You’re confusing Section 1 with Section 3, whose whole point, whose entire point, is to prevent those guilty of insurrection or treason from ever again holding public office.
It is true that the framers of the amendment did not include in their passage a clear and unmistakable mechanism for execution. But while this oversight, of necessity, needs to be an object of your deliberations, it cannot be permitted to be your focus. There’s too much at stake.
Tying yourself into knots to achieve what conservative Judge John Michael Luttig derogatorily refers to as “an off ramp” is a fool’s errand and a coward’s way out.
A Colorado District Court found Donald J. Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection. The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed it. So unless you are able to secure the requisite votes necessary to overturn those decisions, in spite of overwhelming evidence, you are bound to respect them. The Constitution of the United States of America does not suggest disqualification for insurrection, it demands it.
By all means, be deliberate. Work yourself into a froth, if necessary, over whether the holder of the office of the presidency is an “officer of the United States.” Frankly, a ridiculous question if ever I heard one.
Consider whether Section 3 is self-executing or requires an act of Congress. Wrestle with the difficult question of whether an individual state, charged with writing election law within its own boundaries, can yet remove from the ballot a candidate for federal office.
But above all else, resist the off-ramp. For the sake of the American Republic, and in fealty to the Constitution, the Court must affirm the findings of the two lower courts: that under the 14th Amendment, Section 3, Donald J. Trump was, unequivocally, “an officer of the United States,” that he “engaged in insurrection against the same,” and that henceforth he is forever disqualified from tenure as president of the United States.
Jack Wrightington
Edgewater
Absurd. Do you know when the last time states removed a presidential candidate from the ballot? 1860. Some southern states removed Abraham Lincoln. What was the result? Lincoln was elected and the county devolved into Civil War.
Individuals must be provided their due process rights. This is something neither Colorado nor Maine did. Consequently, both of their opinions are unconstitutional.
Denying process rights to Trump means the government can deny them to anyone! That is the real threat to our republic.