The 14th Amendment to the Constitution bans anyone who ā€œengaged in insurrection or rebellion againstā€ the U.S. from holding office.

A Florida lawyer is suing Donald Trump in an attempt to disqualify his current run for president. Lawrence A. Caplanā€™s Thursday lawsuit claims that the ex-presidentā€™s involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot would make him ineligible to run again, thanks to the Constitutionā€™s 14th Amendmentā€”a Civil War-era addition aimed at preventing those who ā€œengaged in insurrection or rebellion againstā€ the U.S. from holding office. ā€œNow given that the facts seem to be crystal clear that Trump was involved to some extent in the insurrection that took place on January 6th, the sole remaining question is whether American jurists who swear an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution upon their entry to the bench, will choose to follow the letter of the Constitution in this case,ā€ the lawsuit says, also citing Trumpā€™s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Legal experts say itā€™s an uphill battle to argue in court, since the amendment has hardly been exercised in modern history. ā€œRealistically, itā€™s not a Hail Mary, but itā€™s just tossing the ball up and hoping it lands in the right place,ā€ Charles Zelden, a professor of history and legal studies at Nova Southeastern University, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

archive link to South Florida Sun Sentinel article: https://archive.ph/1BntD

  • Chickenstalker@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    In many other countries, insurrection gets you a nice brick wall and a blindfold. In America, you get to run for President (again).

    • dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Except the trial for the insurrection is just barely starting, not to mention all the other indictments. Yes, he wasnā€™t immediately locked up and should have been. Yes, heā€™s being treated differently because heā€™s rich, but itā€™s not like nothing is happening.

    • sheilzy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      For real. Iā€™m really jealous that the courts in Brazil have already banned Bolsanaro from running for office for the next 10 years and Pakistanā€™s parliament ousted Khan for being ungenerous to the Ukraine conflict and then later the police arrested him for bribery. Those are supposedly developing countries but they are doing a better job of controlling their tyrannical despots than we are. Fortunately, like I keep saying, Trump has too much work cut out for him to effectively campaign with so many charges. Heā€™s been in the lead, but I donā€™t know if he can stay that way.

      • Skates@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        Those are supposedly developing countries but they are doing a better job of controlling their tyrannical despots than we are.

        Thatā€™sā€¦ Really interesting tbh.

        Youā€™re equating being a developed nation with the best thing ever, and expecting that if youā€™re the most developed nation you are also the best at treating social issues, and are therefore a bit confused when you see how other less developed countries can treat these issues better.

        But when we get right down to it, development has no real reason to also mean ā€œjustā€ or ā€œlawfulā€, right? I mean - ā€œdevelopedā€ means having a good economy, right? And when googling about it, the Human Development Index(HDI) comes up as well. But if we break it down, having money doesnā€™t mean youā€™re a better person. We can all think of countries with money but with a bad track record in human rights, like Saudi Arabia. And regarding the HDI, the US is 20th in that, right between South Korea (who are constantly faced with a nuclear threat along the border) and Israel (who are currently involved in stealing another countriesā€™ land and constantly persecuting that countryā€™s people). So what does developed mean in this context? Because it sure doesnā€™t mean these countries should be able to sleep at night because they have no problems.

        But skipping all that, whatā€™s weird to me is that this mentality of ā€œweā€™ve got a lot of money therefore we have a great country and society and we only make good decisionsā€ is so ingrained in you, that it actually surprises you when your country is surpassed by other countries in some aspects.

        And itā€™s nothing to do with you, sorry if I made it seem like Iā€™m attacking you or something, because Iā€™m really not. For lack of a better way to describe this, to someone from the outside it looks like youā€™re a victim of a cult who is slowly starting to recognize that not everything the cult leader has been saying is actually true. I guess what Iā€™m saying is - the American/capitalist propaganda machine does such a good job of pushing the ā€œbest country in the worldā€ narrative, that itā€™s really interesting to see the ramifications it has on peopleā€™s way of thinking about the US.

    • kristoff@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      or a one-way trip from a window on the 10th storey of a building all the way down to the ground.

    • Treczoks@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Not all countries are barbaric. Some just offer a long term stay in federal hospitality.