Rules are Rules

25 November 2022

 

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Trump May be Ineligible to Run Again

 

Donald Trump is mounting another campaign for the White House. He is the current front-runner among the Republicans. Not only is he the only announced candidate but also he leads in all the polls, with one or two exceptions. The MAGA wing of the party (which is much bigger than a wing) is already hyped up, and his coffers runneth over. However, he may not be eligible for the presidency. The Fourteenth and Twenty-Second Amendments suggest that he could lose a lawsuit to deny him a place on the ballot in November 2024.

In the first instance, there is the language of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment that passed in the wake of the Civil War. The first two sections have to do with the status of former slaves. The third reads:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Mr. Trump took such an oath as president. He launched the January 6 insurrection. It appears to be an open and shut case. It will be for courts to decide naturally. Because US elections are done at the state level, it is entirely feasible that the courts in New York could find that he is disqualified under Section 3 while Texas decides he is not. If he is not on the ballot in some swing states, the election would be over before it begins.

The other way in which he may be disqualified is much more subtle, but it could still deny him a place on the ballot in some states. The first line of the Twenty-Second Amendment reads, "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice . . . ." The choice of the verb matters a great deal here. It does not say "serve" but just "elected." Mr. Trump has argued disingenuously that he won the election of 2020. Put differently, he maintains that he was elected. His claim about the election is a case of what lawyers call "estoppel." It is a legal bar to taking a certain action because one\'s previous words or deeds.

The case is straightforward. Mr. Trump, like any other qualified American citizen, can only be elected president twice. He maintains that he won the 2016 election, and the world agrees with him. He also maintains that he was elected in 2020, but he also claims he was denied the presidency through fraud. In other words, because he maintains he has been elected twice, estoppel kicks in and prevents him from being elected again. In a court under oath, he may deny he was elected, which could cure the problem he has. One wonders what would be left of his election-denying MAGAts were he to admit he lied to them about the election.

One does not expect Mr. Trump to be deterred by these issues, nor does one expect the legal system to prevent him from being nominated or elected (Odin forbid it does its job). However, there is certainly enough there if anyone wants to pursue the issue.

© Copyright 2022 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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