Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe on Tuesday explained why he believes Donald Trump’s arguments against calls for him to be disqualified from the 2024 election ballot for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection as he desperately sought to cling to the presidency are “absurd.”
Trump faces legal challenges in multiple states that claim he shouldn’t appear on their ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bans anyone who engaged in insurrection against the Constitution from holding office. One trial in Colorado kicked off on Tuesday.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid asked Tribe if Trump’s actions met the Section 3 standard.
“It is clear that Section 3 by itself says that anyone who ‘engages in an insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States,’ that’s the phrase, not just against the government, but against the Constitution of the United States, is not entitled to another bite at that apple,” Tribe replied.
Trump’s claim it “might apply to a county commissioner in New Mexico, but it doesn’t apply to him, because it doesn’t apply to the president” is “an absurd argument,” he added.
And Trump’s stated belief that he “never really took the kind of oath that Section 3 talks about” is “how ridiculous the arguments get,” Tribe lamented.