As the Colorado Supreme Court wrote, January 6 meets the bar for insurrection ā€œunder any viable definitionā€ of the term. The legal scholar Mark Graber, who has closely studied the Fourteenth Amendmentā€™s history, argues that ā€œinsurrectionā€ should be understood broadlyā€”an act of organized resistance to government authority motivated by a ā€œpublic purpose.ā€ That certainly describes the Capitol riot, in which a violent mob attacked law enforcement and threatened members of Congress and the vice president in order to block the rightful counting of the electoral vote and illegally secure the victory of the losing candidate. The historical record also suggests that the amendmentā€™s requirement that a prospective officeholder must have ā€œengaged in insurrectionā€ should also be understood broadlyā€”meaning that Trumpā€™s speech on the Ellipse that morning and his encouragement of the rioters while they smashed their way through the Capitol more than fit the bill.

  • Zagorath
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    6 months ago

    Thatā€™sā€¦ummā€¦literally completely wrong.

    • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Courts have a process to follow, including a decision of whether guilt is found or not by the triers of fact. That hasnā€™t happened here.

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      But until that happens, a trier of law would be very reasonable in finding that a decision by a member of the political executive to simply declare Trump is an insurrectionist is invalid

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      My understanding is that the 14th amendment was created specifically to keep Confederates out of office, after the Civil War.

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      But you really said it best

      Iā€™m not a lawyer.