Orange Man Disqualified? Adam Schiff Talks 14th Amendment

Without outright saying so, Democrats have made no secret that their endgame with the various Trump prosecutions is to get him kicked off the 2024 ballot.

To that end, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on Sunday that a legal argument to disqualify the former president is “valid,” and that the part of the amendment that bans those who have “engaged in insurrection” from holding elected office “fits Donald Trump to a T.”

Appearing on MSNBC, Schiff told former Biden Spox Jen Psaki that the 14th Amendment doesn’t even require someone to actually be convicted of insurrection in order to be barred from holding public office – only that they must have engaged in it.

“I think it is a valid argument. The 14th Amendment, Section 3 is pretty clear. If you engage in acts of insurrection or rebellion against the government, or you give aid and comfort to those who do, you are disqualified from running,” said Schiff. “It doesn’t require that you be convicted of insurrection. It just requires that you have engaged in these acts.”

Of note, Democrats have floated using another section of the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

“It’s a disqualification from holding office again, and it fits Donald Trump to a T,” Schiff continued, adding that he imagines this legal theory could either be tested by a secretary of state, or a plaintiff challenging Trump’s name on the ballot – and that he expects the issue to potentially make it all the way to the Supreme Court.

“I think this will be tested when a secretary of state either refuses to put him on the ballot, or puts him on the ballot and is challenged by a litigant. I would imagine it would go up to the Supreme Court, and that’s the big question mark through all of this, which is what will the Supreme Court do?” said Schiff, adding “There are prominent constitutional scholars, as well as prominent progressive scholars who believe that he should be disqualified.”

And what does Schiff think that the conservative-biased Supreme Court will do?

“Only time will tell, but I do think it is a very legitimate issue. By the clear terms of the 14th Amendment he should be disqualified from holding office.”

Watch:

.@RepAdamSchiff: “By the clear terms of the 14th Amendment, [Trump] should be disqualified from holding office.” pic.twitter.com/SYI4rrpSgC

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) September 3, 2023

And of course, looks like the memo went out.

While there’s a “powerful argument to be made” that former Pres. Trump is disqualified from running again under the 14th Amendment, Sen. Tim Kaine predicts that the issue while be “resolved in the courts.” https://t.co/gLfhOlFr03 pic.twitter.com/KvpDBqrSAB

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 3, 2023

We’re sure that whatever happens it will be conveniently scheduled for maximum election interference.

Of course, as Andrew C. McCarthy noted in National Review in January, If Trump was not disqualified under the impeachment clause, a remedy that undeniably applied to him, he is not going to be disqualified under the 14th Amendment, which doesn’t.