Does Disqualification Under the 14th Amendment Even Apply to Trump?

If it does not — as some sages assert — the former president’s path to the White House grows considerably smoother.

AP/Evan Vucci, file
President Trump at Washington, January 6, 2021. AP/Evan Vucci, file

The movement to bar President Trump from the White House on the basis of Section Three of the 14th Amendment could soon face a defining question: Does the disqualification clause apply to the commander-in-chief?

That interpretive conundrum is growing in urgency as courts — most recently, one in Colorado — begin to hear lawsuits to block Mr. Trump from the ballot. One former federal judge, Michael Luttig, opined on MSNBC that “this is one of the most fundamental questions that could ever be decided under our Constitution. And it will be decided by the Supreme Court sooner rather than later.”

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