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.

  • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 months ago

    Your whole argument is based in the court of public opinion. Trials are not held in the court of public opinion. That’s called politics.

      • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        10 months ago

        Courts have a process to follow, including a decision of whether guilt is found or not by the triers of fact. That hasn’t happened here.

        Opinion

        But until that happens, a trier of law would be very reasonable in finding that a decision by a member of the political executive to simply declare Trump is an insurrectionist is invalid

        Opinion

        My understanding is that the 14th amendment was created specifically to keep Confederates out of office, after the Civil War.

        Opinion

        But you really said it best

        I’m not a lawyer.