The 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump

Yesterday, in a jaw-dropping ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court shocked the world. It found that Donald Trump incited the Jan 6 insurrection. Based on that finding, it ruled that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies him from being president of the United States. 

Here is how The New York Times reported on its historic, precedent-setting ruling:

The central questions are whether Section 3 applies to the presidency; whether Mr. Trump’s behavior before and on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted ‘engaging in insurrection or rebellion against’ the Constitution; and whether election officials or the courts can deem a person ineligible without specific action by Congress identifying that person. 

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the answer to all of these questions was yes.

Given that, if the Supreme Court does not affirm that the Constitution disqualifies Trump, this section of the 14th Amendment has no practical meaning or application. 

Why the Supreme Court should disqualify Trump

There’s a fateful symmetry in how the Roberts Court today mirrors the unethical and unpopular Taney Court of the 1850s.

To indict the Roberts Court’s unethical behavior, one need look no further than Justice Clarence Thomas. His acceptance of millions in gifts from billionaire “friends” suggests each justice lives by the motto: ethics for thee, not for me.

To explain its unpopularity, one need look no further than its ruling that women have no right to an abortion. That ruling offended all notions of fairness and justice every bit as much as the Taney Court’s ruling that Blacks had no right to citizenship.

But I suspect the Roberts Court is keen to avoid the shameful legacy that befell the Taney Court. This Colorado case presents on a silver platter the opportunity to set it on the road to redemption. 

Of course, Republican-appointed justices control the court. So, it’s hardly surprising that most people expect them to do the party’s bidding in this case. Hell, even never-Trumpers like Ty Cobb are predicting the Supreme Court will overturn the Colorado Court and declare Trump still eligible to be president.

Moreover, I am all too aware that, like Republican politicians, Republican justices nowadays regard hypocrisy as a virtue, not a vice. So, they might have no compunction about making a mockery of their strict-constructionist / original-intent philosophy. 

In other words, nobody should be surprised if they willfully ignore the plain reading and meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. 

Political pandering defying legal reasoning

Unsurprisingly, this ruling has polarized Republicans and Democrats. They’re reacting as if they were Southerners and Northerners in the 1850s reacting to a court ruling outlawing slavery. 

Indeed, Republicans seem as hell-bent on defending Trump’s autocratic ambitions as Southerners back then were on defending the institution of slavery. And, like those Southerners, Republicans seem willing to trigger civil war to get their way. But the bark is far worse than the bite in this case. 

The Supreme Court will decide this issue. And its ruling will not trigger civil war this time. 

I see no point in arguing the legal merits: The facts are beyond the dispute. And reports indicate that the Supreme Court will find a technical (due-process) opening to weasel out of making a dispositive ruling.  

Besides, for years, I’ve lamented that Court rulings on controversial issues too often reflect not what the law mandates but what politics dictate. Case after case had Republican-appointed justices predictably voting to codify Republican talking points, and vice versa. 

Nothing betrays this partisan trend quite like Republican presidential candidates rushing to condemn the Colorado Court for disqualifying Trump. You’d think they would welcome this ruling as their only prayer of winning the nomination. 

Except that party loyalty trumps legal reasoning. And those Republican candidates fear MAGA voters will reflexively disqualify them if they do not toe the party line in this case. How’s that for a case of the lunatics running the asylum?

My only hope is that the six Republican-appointed justices will put law and country above politics and party. If they do, they will join the three Democratic-appointed justices and affirm the Colorado court’s ruling. If they do not, they will be forever regarded as little more than political hacks in judicial garb.  

So here’s to the Roberts Court. May it wrest the Republican Party from Trump and save our democracy from autocracy.

I rest my case.