As the Colorado Supreme Court wrote, January 6 meets the bar for insurrection “under any viable definition” of the term. The legal scholar Mark Graber, who has closely studied the Fourteenth Amendment’s history, argues that “insurrection” should be understood broadly—an act of organized resistance to government authority motivated by a “public purpose.” That certainly describes the Capitol riot, in which a violent mob attacked law enforcement and threatened members of Congress and the vice president in order to block the rightful counting of the electoral vote and illegally secure the victory of the losing candidate. The historical record also suggests that the amendment’s requirement that a prospective officeholder must have “engaged in insurrection” should also be understood broadly—meaning that Trump’s speech on the Ellipse that morning and his encouragement of the rioters while they smashed their way through the Capitol more than fit the bill.

  • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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    10 months ago

    the original court case did just that. Heard the expert testimony, consulted historical law, and decided two things: did Trump participate in insurrection as the term was intended by the 14th

    Ok that is a very important detail of which I was not aware. I had heard that the District Court decided he could stay on the ballot because it thought the President was not an officer (which as a matter of law is just a ridiculous conclusion). I didn’t hear that he actually had decided it was insurrection first.