Sherrilyn Ifill | U.S. courts fear the radical 14th Amendment - The Washington Post

FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Opinion | U.S. courts fear the radical 14th Amendment - The Washington Post

By Sherrilyn Ifill

Sherrilyn Ifill, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, will launch the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy at Howard Law School in 2024.

Why are U.S. courts so determined to dilute the 14th Amendment?

Consider the recent ruling upholding former president Donald Trump’s appearance on Colorado’s 2024 presidential ballot. Here we have the latest entry in a dismaying 155-year tradition of American judges stripping that radical amendment to the U.S. Constitution of its intended power.

Judge Sarah B. Wallace’s decision that Trump engaged in insurrection but is nevertheless qualified to run for office is emblematic of the often outright resistance courts have shown to the 14th Amendment’s guarantees and protections. This instance applies to Section 3, which bars any participant in a rebellion against the government of the United States from holding public office. But almost from its inception, all the amendment’s radical provisions have inspired fear and timidity in jurists of every stripe.

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