Even after the United States Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump cannot be removed from the state of Colorado’s 2024 primary ballot, a Democrat lawmaker is still seeking a way to keep him from running for president.
In its Monday ruling, all nine judges of the Supreme Court agreed that states do not have the right to enforce the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment on the presidency. They however, had differing opinions on whether the Congress can enforce the clause using legislation.
That open door did not get lost on Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) who has revealed a plan to “revive legislation” that would stop anyone that participated in an “insurrection” from running for president, as Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states.
Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash after the higher court’s ruling, Raskin said, “We’ve been saying all along that section three of the 14th Amendment presents a clear and unequivocal statement that anyone who has sworn an oath of office — and, by the way, not just a president but members of Congress and others who hold federal office — who engage in insurrection or rebellion, having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic can never serve again in federal or state office.”
“We’ve been saying all along that section three of the 14th Amendment presents a clear and unequivocal statement that anyone who has sworn an oath of office — and, by the way, not just a president but members of Congress and others who hold federal office — who engage in insurrection or rebellion, having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic can never serve again in federal or state office,” he said further.
Despite the fact that Trump was not convicted on insurrection charges and has not been tried for insurrection in court for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol protests, Raskin further pointed out that he had already been impeached by the House of Representatives on that charge.
“So the House has already pronounced upon that, and there was also a 57 to 43 vote in the Senate. The question is whether Speaker Mike Johnson would allow us to bring this to the floor of the House,” he stated.
Raskin would not be the only Democrat that would react sorely to the ruling, as Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who gave the order to remove Trump from the state’s primary ballot initially, called the ruling a “disappointment” and “absolutely bats***.”
“I do believe that states should be able under our constitution to bar oath-breaking insurrectionists. And ultimately this decision leaves open the door for Congress to act, to pass authorizing legislation. But we know that Congress is a nearly non-functioning body. So ultimately, it will be up to the American voters to save our democracy in November,” she said during a rant on MSNBC after the ruling.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold looks like she’s about to cry on MSNBC:
“It will be up to the American voters to save our democracy.”
pic.twitter.com/7BkeBMBPWY— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 4, 2024
