Constitutional Law
Sep. 12, 2023
Is Donald Trump ineligible to run as president?
It is disquieting to think of courts keeping someone with substantial public support from running for president, let alone a former President of the United States. That seems profoundly anti-democratic. Shouldn’t the people -- or at least the Electoral College -- get to decide who will be president? But this fails to recognize that the Constitution is inherently anti-democratic, including in determining the qualifications for federal office.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
There is a compelling argument that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment makes Donald Trump ineligible to run for president. A lawsuit was filed last week in Colorado to keep Trump off the ballot there and similar cases are likely to be filed throughout the country. It is urgent that this be resolved before the primary elections begin.
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits a person who took an oath of office from ever again hold...
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