Former United States President Donald Trump's name could be kept from the presidential ballots of six southern American states due to an old law from the Reconstruction Era if he is found to be involved in the Capitol Hill insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021.
The specifics of the law, which can be found on the third section of the 14th Amendment, prohibits people who have sworn to defend the Constitution but subsequently took part in an insurrection against the United States from holding state or federal office. However, other language in that same post-Civil War amendment suggests only Congress could enforce the ban.
Old Reconstruction-era Law
If the authority only lies on Congress alone, then Senate Republicans will have an opportunity to block any such action if they deem it necessary. But the 1868 law that readmitted six states put the responsibility on the regions to keep people who were part of insurrections from seeking office. This could potentially make it easier for some lawmakers to keep Trump off their primary and general election ballots, HuffPost reported.
A law professor at Indiana University who studies the Reconstruction period, Gerard Magliocca, said that the law was still in the books. He noted that the language could assist authorities who were working on keeping Trump from getting re-elected in 2024 and any other candidates who may have been involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot.
The 1868 law affected the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida. The regions constitute a total of 88 electoral votes, which is equivalent to 33% of the total needed to win the presidency for the United States of America. In 2020, Trump won all of the states except for Georgia from Joe Biden.
Ron Fein's Free Speech For People Group is currently challenging North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn's attempt to seek re-election due to the latter's involvement in the Jan. 6 pre-riot rally. The official said that the constitutional ban on insurrectionists running for office applies everywhere, Yahoo News reported.
Trump's Involvement in the Insurrection
The situation comes as Trump is facing potential criminal charges for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. The House Select Committee, which is tasked with investigating the events leading up to the incident, is not ruling out the possibility that the Republican businessman and his associates' actions constituted a crime.
During an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper inside the Capitol on the anniversary of the unprecedented incident, Rep. Liz Cheney lamented on how the former president just "watched the attack happen on television."
"The president of the United States is responsible for ensuring the laws are faithfully executed, he's responsible for the security of the branches. So, for the President to, either through his action or inaction, for example, attempt to impede or obstruct the counting of electoral votes, which is an official function of Congress, the committee is looking at that, whether what he did constitutes that kind of a crime. But certainly, it's dereliction of duty," said the Wyoming Republican, CNN reported.
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