Understanding The 14th Amendment Case Against Donald Trump

Diane Rehm: On My Mind

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🗓️ 21 December 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

Will the 14th Amendment prevent Donald Trump from running for president?

It’s an idea that has gone from a longshot hope of liberal activists, to a buzzed about theory among respected legal scholars to a very real threat to Trump’s candidacy.

In a bombshell decision earlier this week the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection and should not be allowed to participate in the state’s Republican primary. The former president has said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to quickly take up the case.

“Whatever happens in this case, I think we’ll likely be surprised,” says Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan organization whose mission is to educate the public about the country’s founding document. He says there is simply no precedent for how to treat a presidential candidate who has been ruled “an insurrectionist." “It’s impossible to predict the outcome according to the ordinary rules of constitutional interpretation, because they just don’t apply,” he adds.

Jeffrey Rosen joins Diane to talk about the Colorado court’s legal arguments, and the consequences of the ruling for Trump, the judiciary, and the country.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi it's Diane on my mind will the 14th amendment prevent Donald Trump from running for president.
0:15.0	In a bombshell decision earlier this week,
0:18.0	the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection and should not be allowed to
0:26.7	participate in the state's Republican primary. The former president has had he will appeal to the Supreme Court.
0:37.0	What makes this case so hard is it's not completely obvious what is best for the country even if you believe
0:44.4	that the re-election of President Trump would be a catastrophe.
0:48.2	Jeffrey Rosine is president of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan organization
0:58.4	whose mission is to educate the public about the US Constitution.
1:04.6	He joined me to talk about the legal arguments of the case
1:09.1	and the consequences for both the judiciary and the country.
1:16.0	Jeffrey, explained to me how this decision from the Colorado Supreme Court came about.
1:26.7	What is the background that led to this decision?
1:32.3	The decision came about because voters in Colorado challenged former President Trump's
1:39.0	constitutional eligibility to appear on the ballot. They claim that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
1:47.1	prohibits him from appearing because he engaged in insurrection and is therefore
1:52.0	disqualified according to the amendment.
1:55.0	So Colorado decided to hold a trial on the question of whether or not
2:00.0	President Trump had engaged in an insurrection and whether or not the 14th Amendment
2:05.3	applied in this situation and eventually it worked itself up to the appellate court and
2:10.0	they held that he was indeed disqualified and that's where we are.
2:13.0	So what kind of a trial did they hold?
2:17.0	I'm not sure I understand what happened at that lower level.
	...

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