Washington: Notwithstanding former US President Donald Trump’s growing public popularity against rising indictments for his alleged misdemeanour against the electoral process and his war chest swelling with sympathy factor, two noted legal experts say the constitution disqualifies Trump from entering White House and holding the President’s office for a second time that he so eagerly desires.
Those in the far right might portray the accountability factor for the January 6 Capitol riot as just another partisan dispute, two prominent conservative legal scholars have made the case that the Constitution disqualifies former President Trump from public office, media reports said.
Law professors William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas — both members of the conservative Federalist Society — argued in a law review article that Trump is already constitutionally forbidden from serving in public office because of Section Three of the 14th Amendment.
Better known as the Disqualification Clause, this amendment bars from office any government officer who takes an oath to defend the Constitution and then engages in or aids an insurrection against the US.
Only a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress can act to remove such a disability, reports said .
Legal pundits said its not surprising at all that Trump meets this standard.
All three branches of the government have identified the attack on the Capitol as an insurrection, with multiple federal judges, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, as well as the bipartisan January 6 House select committee, citing Trump as the main cause.
He has been charged with conspiracy with 18 others including his counsel Rudy Giuliani to subvert the election process to overturn the 2020 election results denying legitimate voters their rights to franchise.
Baude and Paulsen observed that: “Section Three requires no prior criminal-law conviction, for treason or any other defined crime, as a prerequisite for its disqualification to apply.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump for election-related crimes only further enhances the case for his disqualification under the constitution.
The Disqualification Clause has already been used successfully to promote accountability for the insurrection, and, in the coming months, it will be used again to prevent Trump and others from serving in public office, an expert said.
–IANS