Should Trump Be Barred from the Ballot? A Debate over the Insurrection Clause

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Former President Donald Trump is the clear front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination despite efforts nationwide to remove him from the 2024 presidential ballot based on the 14th Amendment, which says public officials who have “engaged in insurrection” are disqualified from ever serving again. Did Trump violate the Constitution, and should he be barred from running for president based on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election? Or is taking Trump off the ballot an anti-democratic measure that will only energize his base? Democracy Now! hosts a debate with Praveen Fernandes, vice president at the Constitutional Accountability Center, who argues the amendment clearly applies to the president and enforcing the law protects democracy, and Samuel Moyn, a professor of law and history at Yale University, who says the legal case is not strong enough and Democrats must appeal to more voters to defeat Trump. The Supreme Court has agreed to review Colorado’s case and will hear oral arguments next month.

This post was originally published on Democracy Now!.