“I will be asking the attorney general’s office for their input,” Secretary of State David Scanlan told the Globe. “And ultimately whatever is decided is probably going to require some judicial input.”
A debate among constitutional scholars over former president Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential race has reverberated through the public consciousness in recent weeks and reached the ears of New Hampshire’s top election official.
Secretary of State David Scanlan, who will oversee the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in just five months, said he’s received several letters lately that urge him to take action based on a legal theory that claims the Constitution empowers him to block Trump from the ballot.
Scanlan, a Republican, said he’s listening and will seek legal advice to ensure that his team thoroughly understands the arguments at play.
Tha constitution is the basis of law, not law itself. Someone too young to run for president would obviously be unconstitutional, so there is no need to make a law specifically for that. But what you don’t apparently understand is that Trump hasn’t committed any of the things he has been accused of until he is convicted in a court. Regardless of the fevered dreams of the media and the far left, he is innocent of the charges so far. You could be on video robbing a bank, 20 eyewitness to the crime, cash in your possession when arrested, and you aren’t guilty until 12 people on a jury say you are. He can’t be disqualified yet.
There are some things which are “Constitutional law.”
Having acted in a specifically defined way and being convicted of a crime are two different things.
This is the only true thing in your comment.
Yes he can, because it’s not about being accused of a crime and being either convicted or acquitted. It’s about having participated in a specifically defined behavior, and being disqualified from office because of it. As I have previously explained, people do not have a “right” to asipre to run for or hold office. Certain people are disqualified from holding the office of President by the Constitution, for reasons which are unrelated to criminality.
Trump may also be criminally convicted of actions related to “participating in isurrection or rebellion against the [United States], or giving aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” but that’s a completely separate issue.
And since you mentioned “the fevered dreams of the media and the far left,” I’ll remind you that three of the four legal experts I cited above are super right wing.
I’ll ask a third time:
Can you show me any enforcement mechanism in 14A Sec 3 of the constitution?
The Arizona Supreme Court disagrees with you (Though the Sec of State disagrees). https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4179561-trump-cant-be-barred-from-arizonas-2024-ballot-says-democratic-secretary-of-state/
Other Blue leaning states may agree with your reasoning, but Trump wasn’t going to win those anyway.
It is self-executing. It has the same enforcement mechanism as the part in Article II which states that only people who are over the age of 35 can hold the office of President.
And it’s not “Blue state” reasoning. The reason this all came up was because of the paper The Sweep and Force of Section Three, written by two Federalist Society (way way way conservative) guys. It’s long, but it’s in relatively clear language.
Let’s see how you decide to dodge ask number four:
That’s a hilarious legal argument. This will likely end up in front of Scotus.
I think I’ll go with what at least one state Supreme Court has decided over some rando on the internet.
I guess SCOTUS can actually read section 3 of the 14th amendment.
9-0.