An annotation about the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3, 2 Trump v. Anderson and Enforcement of the Insurrection Clause (Disqualification Cl
In reaching its decision in Trump v. Anderson, the U.S. Supreme Court observed that Congress enjoys power to enforce the Amendment through legislation pursuant to Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, and reasoned that Section 5 grants Congress alone the authority to provide for the enforcement of Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates.
I'm sorry, why the fuck haven't we heard that Congress is doing this? What the fuck? They can literally still pull the plug on Trump taking office and they haven't?? What the fuck is wrong with them????
Backing up in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, you might recall that earlier this year, the State of Colorado did not want Trump on the ballot because he was disqualified from taking office per Amendment 14, Section 3, the insurrectionist clause:
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.
Basically, no one who has engaged in an insurrection (it doesn't require a conviction, just that they took that action) can hold office again. The Supreme Court, in the ruling known as Trump v. Anderson, ruled that it was not up to the State of Colorado to decide who was on the ballot for a national position.
For some reason, everyone acted like that was the end of the discussion. Like the Fourteenth Amendment just evaporated or something. It's definitely still there and still applies! Right there on constitution.congress.gov, the Supreme Court said it's up to Congress! Not up to the State of Colorado, not up to the Supreme Court, but Congress!
I was in the middle of writing a letter to my senators begging them to please consider Amendment 14, Section 3, and was looking up the primary source to quote in my pathetic desperate last plea for democracy. I didn't know the ruling was added on right there and a huge neon sign that Congress is in fact being a limp sack of rollover shit for not doing their damn jobs jesus fuck it literally fucking says they can put a stop to this shit and the Supreme Court and MAGA can die mad about it. In those exact words, more or less.
After I get my swear words out in this tumblr post, I will go edit my letter to be a good deal more angry at their lack of action, but also with a helping of reassurance that if they do the right thing and enforce the Constitution, they will have my unending support and praise, and I daresay I would not be alone in cheering them on.
Write your house reps:
Write your senators:
Tell them they are fucking up but they can do something really really cool to make everyone's holiday a lot more cheerful: enforce Amendment 14, Section 3, just like the Supreme Court ruled that they can!
