All who participated with Donald Trump in the January 6th insurrection must barred from public office

Echo opinion published in the Daily Times a Pennsylavania newspaper:

Dear Editor:  Fourtheenth Amendment- The cases being brought to declare that former guy President Donald Trump must be barred from holding public office ever again under the United States Constitution and banned from being on voting ballots, are exactly what should happen under the Constitution.

January 6th insurrectionist invasion of the U.S. Capitol

Anyone who carefully reads Section 3 of the 14th Amendment should have no doubt that Trump must be barred from holding any public office after his involvement in the insurrection and attempted coup of January 6th.

We saw with our own eyes 👀 the news broadcasts of the insurrection in real time.

While Section 3 starts with a lengthy sentence, it clearly states, “No person shall … hold any office” who ever took an oath to uphold the Constitution, but later either engaged in an insurrection or gave “aid or comfort” to those going against the Constitution [the “enemies thereof].”

Of course, the United States president is a public officer. Anyone who takes an oath to support the Constitution is some type of public officer. 

The second clause of Section 3’s first sentence even clarifies that “officer” includes all three branches of government.

Given Section 3, cases should also be brought to bar from public office the eight U.S. senators and 139 U.S. Representatives who voted to overturn the election results in January 2021.

In fact, cases should be brought to bar all candidates who supported the insurrection of January 2021, who are now running for any office whatsoever anywhere in the country, at any level of government, including those running to be electors.

The United States Constitution must be upheld.

All who participated in the 2021, insurrection should be barred from public office lest they try to overthrow the government again, which is clearly their aim if Trump does not legitimately win in November.

Trump has stated on several occasions that he will only uphold the November 2024,results if he believes the results are “honest.”

Meanwhile, Trump continues to try to undermine our country’s valid understanding that our election process works.

Our country’s fate is in the balance. There is no question about the meaning of Section 3 if one analyzes it carefully.

Additionally, Section 3 does offer a way (and only one way) to overcome Section 3: If two-thirds of the United States Senate and two-thirds of the United States House of Representatives vote that an individual who has violated Section 3 may nevertheless hold public office, then that individual may hold public office.

If we are a country ruled by law and not a country ruled by whim, all those responsible for enforcing our laws regarding who may hold public office should be making every legal effort to bar anyone who engaged in, encouraged, or supported in any way an insurrection against our country.

Suzanne de Seife, Esq. in Ridley Park Pennsylvania