Fourteenth Amendment Citizenship, Equal Protection, and Other Rights of Citizens
Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office
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 Fourteenth Amendment to the USA Constitution is the part of law under attack by Associate Justice Thomas and his inspiring wife.
February 26, 2021
- Reconstruction-era provision prohibits (click here) those engaged in insurrection or rebellion from serving in the government they sought to overthrow
- Washington - Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), the Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today introduced a measure to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting those who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States from holding public office.
Ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly disqualifies any person from public office who, having previously taken an oath as a federal or state office holder, engaged in insurrection or rebellion. This disability can only be removed by a two-thirds vote of each House of Congress. Having lived through that violent rebellion, the framers of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment were concerned that office holders who had engaged in insurrection might again serve in the very State and Federal governments they had previously sought to violently overthrow.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
“The January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol demonstrates that the concerns that prompted ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment remain relevant today. On that day, a mob violently stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to impede the constitutional function of our democracy and overturn the 2020 election results. This was the first time the Capitol had been invaded since the War of 1812. It is important that we enforce the constitutional provision establishing that any office holders who violated their oaths of office and engaged in this insurrection cannot be trusted with public office.”
The legislation introduced today would create a modern mechanism to enforce this section of the Constitution through a cause of action for the Attorney General before a three-judge panel. Should the Attorney General prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that an officeholder or former officeholder engaged in insurrection or rebellion, that individual would be disqualified from holding public office....
