Does a civil-war-era ban on insurrectionists apply to Donald Trump?
So far, America’s judges have been reluctant to involve themselves in the 2024 election
THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS prohibits wearing cloth woven of different kinds of material; Britain’s Parliament forbids entry to anyone wearing armour; and America’s constitution bans oathbreakers who have committed insurrection or rebellion from holding office again. Such antiquated restrictions are mostly just historical oddities. But sometimes they can be resurrected centuries later. That ignored section of the 14th Amendment to the constitution, written after the civil war to bar officials who had joined the Confederacy in order to break up the republic, is suddenly getting a lot of attention. Here it is:
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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Deus ex constitutione”
United States November 25th 2023
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From the November 25th 2023 edition
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