To the editor: It is difficult to listen to journalists and non-lawyer experts pontificate on issues raised regarding Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. They should read the Colorado Supreme Court opinion that disqualified former President Trump from the election, prompting the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. (“Trump is dangerously unfit for office. But leave him on the ballot so voters can throw him out,” column, Jan. 8)
Colorado judges answer all the important questions, each one affirmatively. There are actually only three.
First, was there an insurrection? To do this you only need to consult the Webster dictionary used when the 14th Amendment was adopted.
Second, did Trump “participate” in an insurrection or “give it aid or comfort”? There is ample evidence of this and no criminal conviction is required, as it was not for hundreds of former participants and sympathizers of the Civil War.
Third, is the president a government “official”? Do I need to cite the presidential “oath of office”?
Whether this politicized United States Supreme Court will follow the Constitution it claims to revere is a question no one can answer.
AJ Faigin, Lagunto niguel
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To the editor: Choose from metaphors for George Skelton's stance that Trump should be allowed on state ballots in the name of preserving democratic norms: Lucy and her football in “Peanuts,” the scorpion and the frog, or the “dove” part dead” from “Arrested Development.”
They all illustrate how hopelessly naïve it is to believe that after decades of cheating and lying in elections by the right, Democrats can win by being good sports. Trump is a fascist, and fascists have always won by taking advantage of centrists' assumption that everyone plays by the same rules.
The paradox of tolerance is that within a tolerant society some positions must be treated as intolerable. Openly attempting to undermine the existence of this country's electoral system is at the top of that list.
Fascists use any means they deem necessary to win, as they must be defeated by any means necessary.
Katelyn Best, Los Angeles
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To the editor: All public positions have grounds for disqualification. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment provides one such disqualification for the presidency.
The key words applicable to the office of president are someone who “participated in an insurrection…or gave aid or comfort to his enemies.”
If the former president's conduct on January 6, 2021 does not conform to that language, no one else will be subject to it and it will be open season for candidates and incumbents to resort to what Trump did.
Michael Miller, Los Angeles
