14th Amendment
A Request For Action
8 September 2023
Michael Bryan Kelly
250 Dahlia St.
Nipomo, CA 93444
Trump has clearly violated section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The Constitution does not specifically grant authorization to any authority for deciding if a violation has occurred. It neither authorizes nor prohibits this authority. This paper addresses the noted concept and submits a request for action. We, the citizens of these United States, need to protect our democracy by taking action to prohibit Trump and his cohorts from ever holding office in this country. The continuation of our democracy may depend upon the actions we take today.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 3 is composed of a very long sentence. It has been reformatted here for clarity.
No person shall be a
Senator or Representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice-President, or
hold any office, civil or military,
under the United States, or under any State,
who, having previously taken an oath,
as a member of Congress,
or as an officer of the United States,
or as a member of any State legislature,
or as an executive or
judicial officer of any State,
to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in
insurrection or
rebellion against the same, or
given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of
this article.
The wording of this amendment does not specify any legal authority to make a declaration as to if any person or group of people have violated this amendment. Nor does it restrict that authority from any legal entity. Can any court of law indict and convict for a violation? Must it be a federal court, an appellate court or even the Supreme Court? Or must Congress decide?
One perspective is that there are no prohibitions for any legal body to assume this task. Each individual state has control over who is on the ballot for each state wide election. Each state should, therefore, have authority to render such a decision. A second thought is that this amendment is a part of the Constitution of the United States, and therefore, is above the state level.
We, the citizens of these United States have two primary options. The first is to just watch and see what happens. At the time this was written, a Washington D.C. based watchdog group filed a lawsuit aiming to block President Trump from the 2024 ballot in Colorado. It was filed in Colorado district court. A download of that document revealed the lawsuit was filed here:
District Court, City, and County of Denver, Colorado
This indicates that the lawsuit was filed in state court. While the reasons for selecting a state court are not completely known, the verdict of the law suit might be applicable to Colorado only. This would not prevent suits from being filed in other states. A favorable verdict may facilitate similar suits in other states.
One suggestion to be considered is that a federal lawsuit should be engaged. This might become applicable to the entire country. It might also run the risk of losing and thereby losing for the entire country. This concept needs consideration by those well versed in state and federal law.
The 2024 election is less than fourteen months away. Time is running out to take action.
Consider the possible and maybe probable results of not taking action. It is possible that Trump can win office again. In this event, there is a high probability that he will be the last president democratically elected. He has made this concept clear since he first ran for office. He has made it abundantly clear since the 2020 election. This is a national crisis of the highest possible magnitude. The loss of democracy in this county is a very real possibility.
Therefore, the suggestion is made that every person and every group who can initiate a suit to stop him from running should do so. And must do so as soon as possible.
Every Democratic organization is requested to consider the possibility of initiating legal action. This might consist of direct legal action by creating and filing a law suit with the specific intent to prevent those who participated in this attempt to overthrow the election from ever holding office again. There are multiple decisions to be made here.
First is the decision of whether to undertake some activity to initiate legal actions. Options include: to directly file a suit, or to assist another organization in filing such a suit. Astute readers may provide additional options.
Second, the decision of who to address in the suit, meaning who should be prohibited from holding office again. This can range from a minimal suit against the singular person Trump. More comprehensive actions may include selected individuals who participated, and might be so large as to include each of the 147 members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.
This paper requests that each Democratic entity consider the question and decide what action to take. The second action presumes that members of the organization have elected to take positive action and that they elect to go beyond merely supporting action taken by others.
Democratic organizations throughout each state, and each district within each state, should plan and begin taking legal actions immediately. That action might be to initiate a law suit to activate the 14th amendment against Trump. Further, all of his cohorts, including many elected officials who have supported him should be included. Recall the last phrase of section 3:
“…. given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
This phrase should be given the widest possible interpretation. This broad support might, and maybe should, include the 147 members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on Jan 6. Yes, possibly ALL OF THEM! Each and every one of them gave aid and comfort to Trump in his endeavor to overturn the election.
The future of democracy in these United States is in peril. It is completely plausible that Trump might be elected again. If so, a Republican led Congress may pass laws that subvert our democracy. Indeed, many elected Republicans have indeed voiced clear plans to do exactly this. Remember those who Trump praises explicitly, Putin of Russia, Kim Jon Un of North Korea, and Xi Jinping of China. He referred to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius.” Is this a person we want in office? To be obvious, this is a clear and absolute no.
It does merit note that the Republicans stole a Supreme Court nomination from Obama and second nomination from Biden. They have packed the court. They will not hesitate to take further action to ensure they stay in power.
We cannot continue our democracy by simply watching and seeing what happens. Each and every single one of us, must stand up and take action to ensure our democracy continues. Further, with the majority of the Republican party providing outright support for Trump and his bid to become an outright dictator, we must continue our endeavors beyond the 2024 election.
The continuation of democracy is not a given. It requires effort by each and every citizen.
The ball is indeed in our court. What is our move?