Even a despicable threat like Donald Trump deserves fair treatment. He should not be punished before being convicted.
In America, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, right? At least that’s what was instilled in me growing up.
Many people (mainly Democrats and leftists) They want to deny Trump access to the presidential primaries under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Drafted immediately after the Civil War, Section 3 decrees that “no person shall…hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or under any state” who has taken an oath “to support the Constitution” and “participated in an insurrection or rebellion.” ” or gave “help or comfort to enemies.”
That made a lot of sense. If you fought to paralyze the nation after promising to protect it, once you failed you should not be allowed to help run the country.
Now there is a movement to prevent former President Trump from running again for the Oval Office because he allegedly inspired – “participated” – in the insurrection by armed and crazy thugs. After Trump’s pep talk, stormed the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, and tried to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s election victory over the bitter loser who lied about massive voter fraud.
Let’s give credit to Governor Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, California’s top elections official. These two liberal democrats They have not joined the chorus to deny Trump access to the ballots. They don’t want anything to do with it.
“There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a threat to our freedoms and even our democracy, but in California we defeat candidates we don’t like at the polls.” Newsom said in his only public comment on the matter. “Everything else is a political distraction.”
Weber included Trump in the March 5 Republican primary in California despite pressure from Democratic Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis to throw him out.
“I must put the sanctity of these elections before partisan politics,” Weber said in a statement.
“While we can agree that the attack on the Capitol and the former president’s conduct were abhorrent, there are complex legal questions surrounding this matter.”
He added that Trump’s conduct “polluted and continues to sow public distrust in the government and the legitimacy of the election, making it more critical than ever to safeguard elections in a way that transcends political divisions.”
Shirley Weber, California Secretary of State.
(Rico Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
In my opinion, the nation (and certainly democracy) would be much better off if Trump was never allowed anywhere near power again. He is dangerously divisive, blatantly immoral, and a terrible role model for the nation’s youth. At 77, the Republican front-runner may even be making a mistake, talking about becoming a dictator for a day, taking revenge on his opponents and imitating Hitler’s rhetoric.
Okay, but Trump has not been convicted of insurrection. No prosecutor has even accused him of that, although he has been accused of nearly 100 other criminal charges.
Where is the due process that the Constitution guarantees? The right to a jury trial? To question prosecution witnesses? And what is an “insurrection” anyway? We better have a solid definition before denying someone public office because they “got involved” in it.
But I am simply rambling like the layman who is not a lawyer, reflecting – I suspect – similar attitudes among numerous citizens.
I contacted some jurists and asked them where I was out of line. They did it.
They all told me that apparently no conviction on an insurrection charge is necessary to remove Trump from the state ballot.
“There is nothing in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that requires a conviction,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law.
“I don’t think Section 3 requires anyone to be convicted,” said Jessica Levinson, an election law specialist at Loyola Law School.
Denying someone access to ballots “is not a criminal punishment,” said UCLA election law professor Richard Hasen. saying. “He is not going to go to jail. It is not paying a fine. “You are not being denied a right.”
Running for office is not a “right,” teachers told me. It’s a privilege”.
“That said,” Hasen added, “there is an issue of due process.”
Colorado Supreme Court expelled Trump from the primary elections, ruling that he participated in an insurrection. First there was a five-day administrative hearing that the court said was sufficient for due process. Trump did not agree and is appealing to the US Supreme Court. But Maine Secretary of State removed Trump from the ballot On your own.
Trump deserves due process, Hasen said.
“There are two different questions,” the professor said. “Was he participating in an insurrection? As we know?”
Exactly.
Who decides?
The US Senate should have resolved Trump’s mess after the mob attack on the Capitol. The House charged him with inciting an insurrection. But too many Republicans cowed in the face of a Senate vote to convict. The vote was 10 out of two thirds necessary. A conviction would have barred Trump from ever holding office again.
Weber told me that he had concluded that it was outside his authority to keep Trump out of the California election. And if he did so, the Secretary of State added, he would “feed those people” who already believe that the elections are rigged against Trump. “It would just fuel the fire.”
Do you personally believe Trump is an insurrectionist? “Oh, yes,” she replied. “Is he telling people to fight and suddenly they’re climbing the walls of the Capitol, breaking in and chasing the vice president? Is this an insurrection? Oh Lord! ….
“I hope and pray that the Supreme Court takes up the issue and gives us a good definition of insurrection so that people know exactly what it is and, whatever the outcome, we are not in a state of confusion.”
The court announced on Friday that will soon hear the case.
Yes, the best solution for democracy would be for the Supreme Court to deny Trump the right to hold public office again. But that’s probably asking too much of this conservative group that includes three Trump-appointed judges.
Other than that, we need to trust the democratic process to legitimately deny this guy another power grab. Let the voters declare him guilty.
