The Guardian-Watchdog group sues to remove insurrectionist Trump from 2024 ballot
September 6, 2023 3 min 507 words
这篇报道涉及了一家监察团体起诉要求将唐纳德·特朗普从2024年总统选举候选人名单中除名的情况。该团体声称特朗普违反了宪法，不具备担任未来公职的资格。这一诉讼是对特朗普连任资格的最强烈挑战之一。 诉讼引用了宪法第14修正案第3节，也被称为取消资格条款，声称特朗普因其参与1月6日美国国会大厦袭击事件而违反了该条款。该条款禁止曾经宣誓过的联邦或州官员在“参与叛乱或暴动”后担任公职。两位著名的保守派法律学者最近发表了一篇长篇法律评论文章，认为特朗普根据第14修正案被取消资格。 特朗普将试图从选票中除名的努力称之为“选举干涉”，这是他面临的大量佐治亚州和联邦法院针对2020年选举阴谋的重罪指控清单中的一部分。然而，大多数法律学者认为第14修正案在2024年总统选举中无法成立。 尽管如此，DC的公民责任和伦理团体（Crew）代表六名科罗拉多选民，他们要求将特朗普从明年的大选候选人名单中除名。此外，亚利桑那、密歇根和新罕布什尔等其他州也在为类似的挑战特朗普资格的诉讼做好准备。 对于挑战特朗普资格的确切程序尚不清楚，可能因州而异。无论如何，预计美国最高法院将很快就特朗普是否有资格进行裁决。Crew的总裁诺亚·布克宾德在周三的一份声明中表示：“如果我们的民主体制要持续存在，我们必须确保宪法得到执行，不能让攻击我们民主体制的人掌握它。” 总的来说，这一事件突显了美国政治中不断升级的争议和分歧，对特朗普是否有资格参选再次引发了激烈争论。
A watchdog group is suing to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot, saying he violated the constitution and is disqualified from holding future office.
The lawsuit is so far one of the strongest challenges to Trump’s eligibility to seek re-election.
According to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the former president violated section 3 of the 14th amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause, with his involvement in the January 6 US Capitol attack. The section bars any federal or state official that has “previously taken an oath” from holding office after they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion”.
Two prominent conservative legal scholars recently authored a lengthy law review article arguing that Trump is disqualified from holding office under the 14th amendment.
“The bottom line is that Donald Trump ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ and gave ‘aid or comfort’ to others engaging in such conduct, within the original meaning of those terms as employed in section 3 of the 14th amendment,” William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St Thomas wrote in their 126-page article, which traces the history and original understanding of the amendment. “If the public record is accurate, the case is not even close.”
Trump has dismissed attempts to remove him from the ballot as “election interference”, his umbrella cry against the long list of felony charges he faces in Georgia and in federal court for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
“Almost all legal scholars have voiced opinions that the 14th Amendment has no legal basis or standing relative to the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump claimed in a post to his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, calling arguments based on the amendment a “trick” being used by leftists to “steal” an election.
The DC-based group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), is representing six Colorado voters – who are either Republican or unaffiliated with a political party – seeking to remove Trump from their state’s ballot in next year’s general election.
In addition to Colorado, other states are bracing for similar lawsuits challenging Trump’s eligibility including Arizona, Michigan and New Hampshire.
It’s unclear what the exact procedure will be for challenging Trump’s eligibility, and it could vary by state. Either way, the US supreme court is expected to weigh in soon on whether Trump is eligible.
“If the very fabric of our democracy is to hold, we must ensure that the Constitution is enforced and the same people who attacked our democratic system not be put in charge of it,” said Crew’s president, Noah Bookbinder, in a statement on Wednesday.
Last year, Crew represented New Mexico residents who successfully sued to remove their county commissioner, Couy Griffin, who participated in the January 6 riot. A federal judge ruled that the attack was indeed an insurrection, and that Griffin’s participation disqualified him from holding office.