WSJ argues against banning Trump from ballot on constitutional grounds

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board is arguing against a push to ban former President Trump from the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment.

“Now that their indictments have boosted Mr. Trump in the GOP primary polls (see nearby), his opponents are resorting to their worst idea since the panicky agitation of 2017 to remove him via the 25th Amendment,” the editorial board wrote Monday. “Now they want to invoke Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment to disqualify him from the 2024 ballot.”

A growing number of legal scholars, Democrats and GOP presidential hopefuls have put forth an argument that Trump may be disqualified from serving as president due to actions he allegedly took during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no one who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

The editorial board is pushing against the argument that Trump’s alleged actions after the 2020 election were equal to an insurrection or rebellion. The board also noted that the former president has not been charged with inciting or participating in the insurrection, adding that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith would have charged the former president if he “believed he could prove it in court.”

They argued that disqualifying Trump from certain ballots in states could violate the due process protections in the constitution and “deny voters the constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choice.”

“If Mr. Trump does somehow regain the Presidency, in part because Democrats insist on renominating a weak President Biden, the normal U.S. checks and balances will continue to exist,” the board wrote. “The consequences of a 14th Amendment panic are likely to be worse for democracy and its institutions than trusting voters and 234 years of sturdy constitutional example.

Trump also dismissed the arguments that he could be disqualified from the ballot Monday, saying those opinions have “no legal basis or standing relative” to the 2024 election.

“Like Election Interference, it is just another “trick” being used by the Radical Left Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, to again steal an Election that their candidate, the WORST, MOST INCOMPETENT, & MOST CORRUPT President in U.S. history, is incapable of winning in a Free and Fair Election. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) both said Sunday that the 14th Amendment may disqualify Trump from the election. GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson has also said the former president’s alleged actions Jan. 6 likely violated the amendment, making him disqualified from the presidency.