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A conviction won’t stop Trump from holding office. The 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause could.OPINION: Donald Trump could be convicted on any number of charges and still be president, but civil litigation to enforce the 14th Amendment's disqualification clause provides perhaps the best legal safeguard to ensure that he never serves in government again.Carol Anderson, Ph.D., and Donald K. Sherman | June 23, 2023Donald Trump’s 37-count federal indictment for mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice is the latest in what is expected to be a long year of litigation. Trump is also likely to be indicted on state charges related to his attempts to pressure Georgia election officials to overturn the 2020 presidential election and potentially more federal charges arising from his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. These legal actions are critical to ensure criminal accountability for Trump’s illegal conduct while serving as president but convictions on any of those charges may not prevent him from assuming the office again. Instead, litigation planned by voters and good government watchdogs to enforce the Constitution against Trump for his role in the insurrection may be the best legal tool available to ensure that Trump never has the power of the presidency, or any government office, ever again. While the Manhattan district attorney’s false statements indictment related to Trump’s payments to Stormy Daniels involves conduct that mostly occurred before Trump became president and the classified records indictment arises from Trump’s refusal to turn over government records that he illegally retained after leaving the White House, what likely comes next are indictments for the crimes that Trump committed in order to illegally stay in office. Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis will likely announce charges against Trump later this summer, which could include violations of criminal statutes for solicitation to commit election fraud and interference with primaries and elections, among others, based on Trump’s pressure of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find the necessary votes to change the state’s electoral college votes. Then there is the Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump for election interference and Jan. 6. Smith already secured the testimony of former Vice President Mike Pence and reportedly former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, which suggests that this investigation is also nearing conclusion. Despite his criminal exposure, Trump has vowed to stay in the race even if he is convicted, there is technically no legal provision that prevents him from serving as president if that occurs. In fact, whether Donald Trump can serve as president is unlikely to be settled in a federal criminal trial in Florida or Washington, D.C., but in civil cases brought by private citizens elsewhere to enforce the Constitution against him. section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution — also known as the disqualification clause — bars any government officer who takes an oath to defend the Constitution and who then engages in an insurrection or aids one against the United States, from ever holding office again. The bipartisan Jan. 6 select committee recommended that officials who pledged an oath to defend the Constitution and then participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection be barred from office pursuant to the disqualification clause. There is ample evidence that Donald Trump is constitutionally disqualified to hold public office ever again. |
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