Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) believes that former President Donald Trump is not qualified to hold office again under the 14th Amendment.
The argument has recently been gaining traction as Trump’s legal woes accelerate and the 2024 presidential race picks up steam.
“We’ve been saying all along that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment presents a clear and unequivocal statement that anyone who has sworn an oath of office — and, by the way, not just the president, but members of Congress and others who hold federal office — who engage in insurrection or rebellion, having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, can never serve again in federal or state office,” Raskin told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday’s episode of “State of the Union.”
The amendment prohibits any elected official from holding office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
But, the amendment adds that Congress can vote to remove the limitation from the individual in question.
“This was added after the civil war as a general constitutional principle, and we have to abide by it,” Raskin said. “Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting an insurrection against the union, and then 57 of 100 senators determined as a constitutional fact that Donald Trump had incited an insurrection.”
Raskin’s argument immediately gained traction. Two members from the conservative Federalist Society published an article on the topic in the Pennsylvania Law Review and a different pair of scholars made a similar argument in The Atlantic.
Likewise, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson brought up the disqualification argument during the first GOP presidential debate last week.
“I’m not going to support somebody who’s been convicted of a serious felony or who is disqualified under our Constitution,” he said.