Interesting that when the Colorado SC issued its opinion, it quoted Trump from his Jan 6 speech, but left out a word he used (which was "peacefully") from the quote, yet still used it as "proof" of insurrection. So either they're intentionally lying, or they're just flat out incompetent. Neither is particularly desirable for a supreme court of any state. I expect lying like that from so-called journalists, but not from a supreme court.
14A is fairly short and quite clear. Section 3 has four primary elements.
First, the jurisdictional element specifies which positions are subject to Section 3:
A "person . . . 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."
Second, the offense element defines the conduct prohibited by Section 3. It regulates the conduct of a person satisfying the jurisdictional element who:
"shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof"
Third, the disqualification element defines the legal consequences or punishment that Section 3 provides for. A person who satisfies the jurisdictional and offense elements of Section 3 shall not 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"
The 4th element has to do with Congress being able to remove the disqualification, so it doesn't really apply to Trump (at least not yet! 🤣🤣)
The only possible connection to Trump, since he has not been convicted of, and only charged / exonerated of insurrection in the second impeachment, would be in the jurisdictional element, based on the phrase "officer of the United States". Unfortunately for those who wish to fight and die on that hill, that phrase has been adjudicated multiple times to NOT apply to the POTUS.
So those who want to use the 14A to keep Trump off ballots are misguided and will be disappointed when their Stalinist tactics fail. Really, how completely afraid are they of him, that they have to try crap like this?
I stole most of this (and a more in depth analysis can be found) here: https://reason.com/volokh/2021/01/20/is-the-president-an-officer-of-the-united-states-for-purposes-of-section-3-of-the-fourteenth-amendment/
Caption this Meme
