The core question the Supreme Court was considering Thursday regarding former President Donald Trump’s eligibility for the ballot in Colorado is whether the wording of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applies to Trump and disqualifies him from holding office for what he did before and during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
“This case does not come down to mere prepositions,” Jason Murray, the lawyer for the Colorado voters who brought the case against Trump, told the justices during his opening statement. But the Supreme Court’s eventual decision, one of truly monumental proportions, will depend on how justices grapple with 15 key words within Section 3. And Thursday, even though many of them have professed a deep commitment to respecting the words of the Constitution, the justices seemed at times more interested in pretending those words have no meaning.
Here are the exact words of Section 3, which lays out the grounds for disqualification:
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.
In briefs filed ahead of Thursday’s arguments, Trump lawyer John Mitchell focused on three main phrases: “having previously taken an oath,” “as an officer of the United States” and “engaged in insurrection.” The first is the hinge on which the clause functions, applying disqualification only to certain people who had held office previously and sworn to support the Constitution. The second…
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