Former US President Donald Trump faces another challenge as he could be excluded from the 2024 presidential election thanks to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, a rarely used clause that targets those candidate endorsing an “insurrection”.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a progressive watchdog, filed the lawsuit on behalf of six Colorado voters on Wednesday. It claims Trump is ineligible to run for the White House again because he supported an “insurrection” against the Constitution on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. in the US to destroy the Congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
The lawsuit cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 to prevent former Confederate officers and soldiers from reclaiming power after the American Civil War of 1861-65.
The provision, known as the “disqualification clause” and the “insurrection clause,” states that no one who has taken an oath to support the Constitution and then “engages in an insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution or “gives aid or Appeasement” of his enemies cannot hold any federal or state office unless Congress grants him an exemption.
“Because Trump took these actions after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars him from becoming president and from being eligible for the Colorado ballot for president in 2024,” the lawsuit said. CREW.
The lawsuit raises several questions, including whether Trump’s actions in the Jan. 6 inauguration constituted a rebellion or insurrection, whether Section 3 applies to the presidency, and whether state election officials have the power to enforce it. without law.
