A legal professional hailing from Palm Beach County has initiated one of the initial legal contentions aiming to exclude Donald Trump from participating in the 2024 presidential election, invoking a provision within the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The case in question was initiated by Lawrence Caplan, a tax attorney based in Boynton Beach. Caplan filed this challenge in the federal court located in the Southern District of Florida. The basis for the challenge was the “disqualification clause” outlined in the amendment, which pertains to individuals involved in acts of insurrection and rebellion against the United States. The ratification of the amendment occurred in 1868, subsequent to the Civil War and during the period of Reconstruction. It also encompassed provisions pertaining to the citizenship status of emancipated slaves and the process of reintegrating the formerly seceded Confederate states into the Union.
The discussion surrounding the potential application of the disqualification provision of the 14th Amendment to President Trump has gained increasing attention in recent weeks. Numerous legal scholars, including those from conservative perspectives, have expressed support for this proposition. State election officials have acknowledged that they are engaged in deliberations over the appropriate course of action in the event that a challenge is raised.
According to constitutional historian Kevin Wagner, the utilization of the amendment as a means to remove Trump off the ballot is a complex undertaking that encounters substantial legal, constitutional, and political obstacles.
“There’s a legitimate argument that one can make surrounding the plain wording of the 14th Amendment and the accusations of what the president did on Jan. 6,” said Wagner, a professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University. “But I think it’s a harder lift than people think and at the end of the day you have to find someone that’s willing to enforce it.”Pensacola News Journal reports, “the amendment’s Section 3 addresses the disqualification of any U.S. citizen from holding office if ‘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.’”
According to Caplan’s legal submission, it is contended that the activities undertaken by Trump on January 6, 2021, were in violation of the amendment. Consequently, the request is made to prohibit Trump from pursuing the presidency and participating in the ballot for Florida’s presidential primary scheduled for March 19, 2024.
“The bottom line here is that President Trump both engaged in an insurrection and also gave aid and comfort to other individuals who were engaging in such actions, within the clear meaning of those terms as defined in Section Three of the 14th Amendment,” the document said.
Trump has categorically rejected any wrongdoing.
Before leaving Atlanta on Thursday night after being booked on charges connected to the 2020 election, Trump once more insisted he was merely disputing vote tallies and said the Georgia indictment was “election interference.”
Trump has categorically rejected any wrongdoing.
Before leaving Atlanta on Thursday night after being booked on charges connected to the 2020 election, Trump once more insisted he was merely disputing vote tallies and said the Georgia indictment was “election interference.”
