Dear MoveOn member,
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted Trump for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.1 This is an essential step toward holding him accountable for inciting a deadly, white supremacist-led insurrection on January 6, 2021 and attempting to overthrow the government to remain in power, but this is not over yet.
Trump is still running for president in 2024, and being indicted for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election will not automatically kick him off the ballot. But the good news is that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution—ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War—states that no one who has previously held office in the U.S. and participates in an insurrection may ever hold public office again.2 So now it’s up to us to call on secretaries of state—the officials who oversee the administration of elections at the state level—to follow the law, keep Trump off the ballot, and send a clear constitutionally, grounded message that insurrection has no place in our democracy.
As background, after the Civil War, our Constitution was amended to block Confederate enslavers from ever holding office again. That provision bars anyone from running for public office who, after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution, has engaged in insurrection against the United States.9
So Trump disqualified himself from running for office again when he incited an insurrection in a failed attempt to steal the 2020 election. And now that he has been indicted for trying to overturn the 2020 election, there is absolutely no question: Trump is already disqualified.
But the truth is that we can’t trust that all secretaries of state will refuse to certify Trump, especially since the MAGA Republican Party stopped at nothing to elect election-denying secretaries of state in the 2022 midterms.10 There will also be extraordinary pressure on secretaries of state to hold back—for fear that barring him will be viewed as partisan and unprecedented, or will lead to further acts of violence. It's critical that secretaries of state know that voters all across the country understand the Constitution, the lawful consequences for Trump's legal actions, and why this measure is warranted.
In 2020, a multiracial, multigenerational coalition of voters cast their ballots and delivered the first Democratic trifecta in Washington since 2009. Donald Trump and his fellow Republican cronies stopped at nothing to try to throw out our votes. He continues to promote lies about the election even though evidence shows he knows he lost. He's doing this to rile up his base, incite further violence, undermine trust in our democracy, and enrich himself.
We absolutely cannot let that happen again. So we have to come together once again and get loud to make sure that our secretaries of state don’t put Donald Trump on the ballot. Our lives and democracy depend on it.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kelsey, Amy, Allison, Eric, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Trump indicted by grand jury on 2020 election interference: Live updates, CNBC, August 1, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179501?t=8&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
2. "How the 14th Amendment Could Disqualify Trump and His Allies," Democracy Docket, June 6, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/169612?t=10&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
3. "READ: The House of Representatives’ article of impeachment against Donald Trump," CNN, January 12, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/174353?t=12&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. "U.S. House Jan. 6 panel report finds Trump incited insurrection, demands accountability," Tennessee Lookout, December 23, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/176950?t=14&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
8. "Jan. 6 hearing shows Trump knew he lost — even while claiming otherwise," The Washington Post, October 14, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/179439?t=16&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
9. "Robert Reich urges secretaries of state to refuse to put Trump’s name on 2024 ballots," The Hill, April 24, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179300?t=18&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
10. "Election Deniers Running for Secretary of State Were This Election’s Biggest Losers," Brennan Center for Justice, November 14, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/179440?t=20&akid=358806%2E40999114%2EFi90OP
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