OPINION:
“Colorado Supreme Court orders Trump removed from ballot for Jan. 6 ‘insurrection’” (Web, Dec. 19) shows that the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment has become the first refuge of scoundrels, topping even the weaponization of the Justice Department.
The 14th Amendment bars persons from running for federal office if they have taken an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection. The wholly Democratic Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former President Trump‘s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted insurrection that bars him from the presidency.
Trump‘s Jan. 6 actions didn’t constitute insurrection, but even if they did it’s clear from constitutional text the insurrection clause doesn’t apply to the presidency.
The clause disqualifies a candidate for office only if he or she has taken an oath to defend the Constitution while an “officer of the United States.” Under the Constitution a president is not an officer of the United States. The appointments clause empowers the president to appoint “officers of the United States,” so that language refers to presidential appointees, not to the president.
The impeachment clause is even clearer. It says “the President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States” are subject to impeachment and removal from office. This is language that draws a clear distinction between a president and “officers of the United states.”
The Democratic Party has lost its way and will stop at nothing to keep Trump from becoming president again. It gives banana republics a good name.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
