As the Colorado Supreme Court wrote, January 6 meets the bar for insurrection “under any viable definition” of the term. The legal scholar Mark Graber, who has closely studied the Fourteenth Amendment’s history, argues that “insurrection” should be understood broadly—an act of organized resistance to government authority motivated by a “public purpose.” That certainly describes the Capitol riot, in which a violent mob attacked law enforcement and threatened members of Congress and the vice president in order to block the rightful counting of the electoral vote and illegally secure the victory of the losing candidate. The historical record also suggests that the amendment’s requirement that a prospective officeholder must have “engaged in insurrection” should also be understood broadly—meaning that Trump’s speech on the Ellipse that morning and his encouragement of the rioters while they smashed their way through the Capitol more than fit the bill.

    • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Courts have a process to follow, including a decision of whether guilt is found or not by the triers of fact. That hasn’t happened here.

      Opinion

      But until that happens, a trier of law would be very reasonable in finding that a decision by a member of the political executive to simply declare Trump is an insurrectionist is invalid

      Opinion

      My understanding is that the 14th amendment was created specifically to keep Confederates out of office, after the Civil War.

      Opinion

      But you really said it best

      I’m not a lawyer.