Dem
51
GOP
49
While we are on the subject of legislation, 40 House Democrats have introduced a bill that would bar Donald Trump from holding any federal office based on the Fourteenth Amendment. Section 3 of the Amendment bars from officeholding anyone who previously took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in an insurrection against it. The law would make it clear that Trump did in fact engage in such an insurrection and thus be barred from running for president.
The bill probably won't pass the House, and has no chance to pass the Senate, but it does bring publicity to the Fourteenth Amendment and might encourage outside groups to sue in various states to bar Trump. Remember, there is no national election for president. There are 51 separate elections for presidential electors and the secretaries of state and/or the courts decide who is eligible to be on the ballot in each state or in D.C. By publicizing the Amendment, the sponsors are hoping for lawsuits to keep Trump off the ballot in some states. It is not a totally nutty idea, since the wording on the Amendment is quite clear. The main factual issue is whether the former president engaged in an insurrection. Once the Select Committee releases its report, later this week, plaintiffs may well have quite a bit of evidence that he did and is thus constitutionally disqualified. It is certainly possible that one or more state Supreme Courts could rule that Trump is indeed disqualified. Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court might not work since the Court might not want that hot potato and could say that each state has to decide for itself who qualifies for its ballot. (V)