With his ongoing legal trouble, which now includes four separate indictments at the federal and state level, many have started to question whether or not this could prevent former President Donald Trump from being on the ballot.
Constitutional lawyer Jill Hasday Joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Adam and Jordana to discuss why some experts are saying Trump shouldn’t be allowed on the ballot.
Hasday shared that new talk surrounding the argument comes from a paper recently published by lawyers who say the president has lost his right to run for president.
When it comes to their argument, she says it is based on the wording in the third section of the 14th Amendment.
The amendment says if someone has taken an oath to obey the Constitution while serving as an elected official and then participated in an insurrection or rebellion against the U.S., they are barred from holding federal office unless two-thirds of the House and Senate give them amnesty.
“Even before this recent article had been written, many people had been arguing that both Donald Trump and various other political figures were now barred from holding federal office because of their role on Jan. 6,” Hasday said.
Hasday says the paper’s authors argue that the original understanding of the Constitution would classify Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 as insurrection.
“Where, although he didn’t pick up a weapon, he participated in various activities, allegedly riling up and promoting the mob violence,” Hasday said.
As for how this paper currently affects Trump’s campaign for the White House, Hasday says that “clearly” there would need to be some type of legal judgment before the 14th Amendment could be invoked against the former president.
“One thing that’s interesting about this is that sometimes people have constitutional arguments, but it’s very hard to get them to court because no one has a concrete interest that produces standing, which is a prerequisite for the court to hear the case,” Hasday says.
However, she added that in this case, there are several ways this could get to court.
One way it could get before a judge is if a state election official refuses to include Trump on the Republican primary ballot, resulting in Trump suing and a judge making a ruling.
Another way is if he is put on the ballot, and one of the other Republican nominees sues, arguing that he shouldn’t be allowed on the ballot because he’s “constitutionally ineligible to run.”
“I think a court ruling on this is very likely,” Hasday said.