Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is speaking out following last week’s ruling from Colorado’s Supreme Court that said former President Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency.
The Capitol Hill lawmaker told WTOP that Trump’s actions following the 2020 election disqualify him from being president again.
Raskin cited section three of the 14th Amendment, which says former public office officials who have engaged in insurrection are ineligible to hold public office again.
“Donald Trump is right in the bull’s-eye center of the constitutional prohibition in section three of the 14th Amendment,” he said.
Raskin, who was also a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law, said the Colorado court engaged in a very straightforward textual interpretation of the 14th Amendment when it made the ruling.
“Some people are out there saying, ‘Well, this would be anti-democratic to deny the people the right to choose Donald Trump as their president.’ Well, no more anti-democratic than saying we can’t choose a very gifted 21-year-old — the Constitution’s qualifications clause says you’ve got to be 35 to run for president,” Raskin said.
Trump’s attorneys said they would appeal any disqualification to the Supreme Court. Raskin said the high court would “essentially be humiliating itself” if it did not disqualify the former president, especially when considering his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
“He egged the mob on to continue the attack. He called senators to have them keep the insurrection going, and of course, he put all kinds of pressure on Vice President Pence to step outside of his constitutional role,” he said.
“I think that the Supreme Court would essentially be resigning its constitutional offices if it simply punted and said, ‘Well, we’re just going to allow this to go.’ And it would demonstrate not the strength, but the weakness of our political institutions.”
For people who think this is a last-minute effort to keep Trump off the ballot out of fear he will win in the 2024 election, Raskin said President Biden already beat Trump.
“That’s a complete inversion of reality. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by more than 7 million votes. Trump tried to blockade Biden’s ability to take office and the peaceful transfer of power by seizing the presidency,” he said.
He added that Trump not being qualified for office is based solely on what is written in the Constitution.
“If you don’t like the Constitution, change the Constitution, but that is the very clear provision and he can no more run for president than somebody who’s 22 years old, or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jennifer Granholm, who weren’t born in this country.”
