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CONGRESS HAS THE POWER AND THE DUTY TO SAVE THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD [1]
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Date: 2025-01-01
CONGRESS HAS THE POWER AND THE DUTY to Save the Country and the World
We are at a moment of the greatest peril to our country and the world. But few seem to realize that Congress has a clear path, under the law, to save our democracy. They have the lawful power to do so—if they have the courage to fulfill their sworn duty.
Under the terms of the 14th Amendment and the Electoral Count Act, Senators and Representatives can demand a vote, prior to January 6, 2025, on whether to make Donald J. Trump eligible for the office of President of the United States.
Because by the plain text of the Constitution of the United States of America, he is not eligible to serve at this moment. That’s because Mr. Trump has already been adjudicated to be an insurrectionist. Furthermore, many members of the electoral college and of Congress are also ineligible to serve in the process of electing the president. Here is the text of the 14th Amendment:
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.
The meaning of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution is plain. The process by which it can be enforced is set out by the Electoral Count Act, which says if the vote of one or more electors was “not regularly given,” then an objection can be raised. Such an objection must be put forward through a petition signed by at least 20% of the members of the both the House and the Senate: 87 Congresspersons and 20 Senators.
In this case, the “irregularity” raised by the petition would be that by the terms of the 14th Amendment, the President-elect is not eligible to take office, and many members of the electoral college and of Congress are ineligible to serve any official capacity, because they engaged in insurrection or gave aid and comfort to those who did. They are therefore, in the nomenclature of the Constitution, politically “disabled.” The electoral votes in support of Mr. Trump are therefore invalid.
A petition signed by at least 87 Congresspersons and 20 Senators would therefore trigger a vote, as mandated in the 14th Amendment, in which Mr. Trump would only be able to take office if at least two-thirds of each House of Congress—290 Congresspersons and 67 Senators—vote affirmatively to “remove the disability.” Only then would Mr. Trump would be able to proceed to inauguration. Even if one-third of either house simply abstains, Mr. Trump would remain ineligible .
This would obviously be an extreme measure, overturning an election. It can only be justified if it is not only lawful but in fact mandated by the Constitution, and if the country at this moment is in extreme peril.
In assessing that question, it might be worth remembering what Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in February 2020, after 57 Senators voted to convict Mr. Trump in his second impeachment trial. Mr. McConnell voted to acquit, but only because he decided that the Constitution’s provision for impeachment only applies to those in office at the time of the Senate trial, and by that point, Mr. Trump was no longer President. But Mr. McConnell clearly articulated Mr. Trump’s culpability for the darkest day in the history of our democratic republic:
“American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism... [they] beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President.
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth — because he was angry he’d lost an election….
“There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth…. an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.
“A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him. It was obvious that only President Trump could end this. Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the Administration. But the President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed, and order restored. Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily as the chaos unfolded.”
Mr. Trump risked everything to destroy our Constitution. Congress must risk everything to save it. If they do not, it will be a final abrogation of their oaths of office.
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