The 14th Amendment to the Constitution bans anyone who ā€œengaged in insurrection or rebellion againstā€ the U.S. from holding office.

A Florida lawyer is suing Donald Trump in an attempt to disqualify his current run for president. Lawrence A. Caplanā€™s Thursday lawsuit claims that the ex-presidentā€™s involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot would make him ineligible to run again, thanks to the Constitutionā€™s 14th Amendmentā€”a Civil War-era addition aimed at preventing those who ā€œengaged in insurrection or rebellion againstā€ the U.S. from holding office. ā€œNow given that the facts seem to be crystal clear that Trump was involved to some extent in the insurrection that took place on January 6th, the sole remaining question is whether American jurists who swear an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution upon their entry to the bench, will choose to follow the letter of the Constitution in this case,ā€ the lawsuit says, also citing Trumpā€™s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Legal experts say itā€™s an uphill battle to argue in court, since the amendment has hardly been exercised in modern history. ā€œRealistically, itā€™s not a Hail Mary, but itā€™s just tossing the ball up and hoping it lands in the right place,ā€ Charles Zelden, a professor of history and legal studies at Nova Southeastern University, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

archive link to South Florida Sun Sentinel article: https://archive.ph/1BntD

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    Malice isnā€™t what needs to be proven. Iā€™ll get voted down for saying this but itā€™s far from proven that trump ā€œengaged in insurrectionā€.

    • SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org
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      He just did everything he could to encourage it and then watched on TV for over an hour giddy that it was happening, refusing to make a statement to call them off, when everyone he knew was begging him to. Yep totally innocent.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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        Stop it. Iā€™m not defending Trump.

        How do you think the legal system works? The prosecutor just says ā€œcā€™mon your honor he totally did itā€ and the judge and jury just say ā€œyep, totallyā€?

        • SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org
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          I think the legal system works exactly that way for poor/black people but for white people you buy your way out of jail.

          Probably because thatā€™s been demonstrated a seemingly infinite number of times

          And yeah what you wrote was a textbook defense, no only in the legal sense but in an everyday sense too.

    • BigNote@lemm.ee
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      The term you are looking for is mens rea and from what we already know from the January 6th committee, Jack Smith has Trump dead to rights in that respect.

      He also almost certainly has additional evidence that the committee didnā€™t get and that we donā€™t know about yet.

      Itā€™s not looking good for Trump which is exactly why heā€™s desperate to delay the trial until after the election in hopes that he wins and can make it all go away.

      Iā€™m surprised I even have to say this as I thought it was common knowledge regardless of oneā€™s political persuasion.

      Also, I didnā€™t downvote your comment.