Opinion: To preserve our democracy, bar insurrectionists from the ballot
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Most people understand that the U.S. Constitution provides certain eligibility requirements for people who want to run for public office. For example, presidential candidates must be at least 35 years old and natural-born citizens in order to appear on the ballot. If they don’t meet those requirements, it’s up to state election officials to bar them from appearing on the ballot.
But there is an additional constitutional requirement for federal candidates that people may not be familiar with because it has not been invoked for over 100 years.
In 1866, having experienced the fragility of the Union and the trauma of Civil War, Congress rightly feared the danger of Confederate insurrectionists and rebels holding public office. To protect the nation, Congress included a provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar insurrectionists.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states: “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 ... 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.”
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In other words, anyone who has sworn an oath of office to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution but then participated in an insurrection is ineligible to run for state or federal office. Since they trampled their oath to support the Constitution by engaging in insurrection, taking that oath again would be meaningless.
Taking the Constitution seriously
As we approach the first federal election following the seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6, election officials must take note of this requirement. In order to protect our democracy from normalized violent uprisings, election officials must follow the mandate of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and bar all insurrectionists, including former President Donald Trump, who previously held elected office from appearing on any ballot for future public office. By inciting the insurrection, Trump made himself ineligible to run for president or hold any other public office again.
Trump has made no secret of his involvement in the Capitol insurrection. On the day of the insurrection, he held a “Save America Rally” just off Constitution Avenue, promising (in a now deleted tweet) that the day would be “wild.” He told his “very special” supporters in a prepared address to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” in an effort to overturn the 2020 election. He delayed support for Capitol Police, one of whom was so injured on Jan. 6 that he died the next day.
More than 140 officers were injured, with four officers having taken their own lives since the rioting.
Participants of the insurrection told reporters that they had “answered the call of my president” as they breached the U.S. Capitol. Nearly every day, new evidence emerges of how Trump and his subordinates helped facilitate the violent insurrection.
An appeal to states
On June 29, Free Speech For People sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., urging them to abide by the U.S. Constitution and bar former-elected-officials-turned-insurrectionists, such as Trump, from appearing on the ballot for any future public office.
Just as election officials could bar a candidate who was 12 years old, or not a U.S. citizen, so, too, they can bar a candidate who is disqualified by reason of past insurrection. (This is not only about Trump; any other elected officials who helped facilitate or otherwise engaged in the insurrection would also be disqualified from office.)
Congress and the states had the foresight to protect the Union from seditious insurrectionists with the addition of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. When oath breakers who care so little for the Constitution that they support a violent attack on their own government seek high office, we cannot simply hope that they don’t attain positions of power.
We must ensure that they don’t.
Ron Fein is the legal director of Free Speech For People. Alexandra Flores-Quilty is the campaign director for Free Speech For People.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Ban Jan 6 insurrectionists from running for office
