Page 212 - 14th Amendment News Today

Justice john paul stevens incredible and unforgettable descent, where he predicted that the greatest winner of that case would be cynicism in the american people and not trusting judges in the future, i hope that they will not need elections, and determined somehow to never do this again. only one member of this court was there, and that is clarence thomas. i doubt that he will be haunted by, but i really think that is part of what they will have to look at. today, i just went and read some of t...

Them. they need to re-read the debates of 1866 over the creation of the 14th amendment but i would guess that they would also be looking, if not explicitly, implicitly at the -- i mean, to me, this colorado decision, it seems to me, is going to depend on whether there are five justices, who will be good technicians to do as luttig says, read it carefully and do what it says. whether they are truly going to be haunted by bush v. gore, which was their steps into determining who wins these election...

There is no precedent really. david blight pointed out, bush v. gore is pretty close, but there is no precedent for a presidential candidate being disqualified from office for reasons like this. so, there is no existing definition in the jurisprudence that would directly relate to this case, but remember, in the election of 1876, soon after the 14th amendment, supreme court justices were involved and choosing the president then also, and as a lecture -- electoral commission was established, incl...

Million in just part of his term as special counsel, for him and his staff. we know marshals protecting judge chutkan in d. c. are around the clock protecting her. even yesterday, tuesday, im sorry, to protect that courthouse when mr. trump decided to shut up for agreement before the circuit. these are huge expenditures. and every time somebody gets attacked, swatted, all that law enforcement have to respond. think about that resources drained and diverting their attention from other important t...

Off-ramps that will allow the supreme court to avoid a decision in this case. indeed, i believe that there are none. section three at the 14th amendment simply could not be any clearer, that the former president is disqualified from the presidency. >> as we continue tonights combined law school class and history class, were joined now by david white, professor of american history and african american studies. he won the pulitzer prize in history for his book, frederick douglass, profit of freedo...

To the supreme court will be one month from now. on january -- theyll hear oral arguments in the case of donald j trump versus norma anderson, which is the title of donald trumps appeal to the united states supreme court of the colorado supreme court decision banning donald trump for the president about, section three of the 14th amendment. its been enacted in 1868. sex sin three at the 13th amendment says that no person shall be a senator or representative in congress, or elector of president a...

When they dig into the 14th amendment, section three, what should they find? >> i think as a judge littig says, the language is clear. any person who took an oath of office into the united states and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion is disqualified from office, all times, the president and all the way down. i think they will find that this was put into the constitution in order to prevent ex confederates from gaining power again after the civil war, particularly in the southern states. ...

It was a referendum on the 14th amendment and its meaning, and a referendum on reconstruction and devotes, returned a veto for a republican majority in congress, made possible the reconstruction act at the following year. i am not predicting that we will have a referendum on the 14th amendment, will have a referendum on trumps crimes, i suppose. who knows, if the court delays this, passes it, punts it somehow, that were still debating in this in september and october, then it becomes part of the...

>> thank you very much for joining us. coming up, we will continue our combined law school class and history class by examining donald trumps first trip to the supreme court that will happen on february 8th. the supreme court justices will decide whether donald trump can be banned from colorados presidential ballot based on section 3 of the 14th amendment, which was adopted in 1868. but a surprise winning

Final round of the faculty club table with soft professor andrew weissmann and history professors, david blight and eric foner. professor blight, how should the supreme court define the words officer and insurrection, if they feel they have to, in section three of the 14th amendment? >> well, if the president is not an officer of the united states, and then nobody. s hes the only person in charge of the entire nation. and by the way, framers of the 14th amendment were worried about the possibili...