Some Democrats remain fixated on trying to prevent former President Donald Trump from running again, The Hill reported.
Since the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the Capitol, nearly a dozen Democrat lawmakers have spoken publicly or privately about using a post-Civil War constitutional amendment to disqualify Trump from holding office again, The Hill reported Thursday.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says that officeholders who "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same" are disqualified from future office.
Constitutional scholars and pro-democracy advocates have joined Democrats in exploring how that amendment might be used to stop Trump. While the topic has received less public attention in recent months, people who remain engaged on the issue told The Hill that discussions have been ongoing.
"If anything, the idea has waxed and waned," Laurence Tribe, a constitutional expert at Harvard Law School, told The Hill.
"I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3."
The Hill said that Tribe had spoken to office members representing Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who sits on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan Jan. 6 House select committee; Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
"I continue to explore all legal paths to ensure that the people who tried to subvert our democracy are not in charge of it," Wasserman Schultz told The Hill.
Most constitutional scholars who spoke to The Hill think the provision is not "self-executing" — meaning that applying Section 3 to Trump would require an additional step by Congress. However, other scholars believe that a simple majority in both chambers would be enough.
Tribe is among scholars who say Congress would need to establish a neutral fact-finding body or rely on a federal court to determine if Trump's actions warrant the amendment being used.
Outside groups also are trying to prevent Trump from running again.
Free Speech For People has mounted a campaign pressuring top state elections officials so Trump’s name would not appear on any future ballot.
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