Why a Cowboys for Trump co-founder has been barred from office – By Steve Benen (MSNBC) / Sept 6, 2022
For the first time in over a century, an American official has been barred from office because of an insurrectionist clause in the Constitution.
After the Civil War, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution extended citizenship to all people born in the United States, required that all Americans receive due process, and guaranteed equal protection of the laws to all citizens. But that was just the first section of the amendment.
As regular readers might recall, the third section sought to disqualify those who took up arms against the United States from serving in elected office. It applied to anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the country, or those who gave “aid or comfort to” our enemies.
For generations, this provision wasn’t considered especially relevant, since elected officials in the U.S. didn’t generally run around supporting insurrections against their own country. But after Jan. 6, this constitutional language took on a whole new significance: Suddenly, some right-wing officials were facing eligibility challenges based on the 14th Amendment.
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