Constitutional Law expert: Trump will be an “illegitimate” President given he's barred from office by 14th Amendment
Trump engaged in an insurrection
Imagine a very popular 25-year-old--who was born in another country--won the election for U.S. President and was sworn in. Would that election victory override Article II of the US Constitution that mandates, “No person…shall be eligible to the Office of President” if not a “natural born Citizen” and having “attained to the Age of thirty five Years”?!
Of course not. The only way that person could be a legitimate President is if those provisions of the Constitution were amended before taking the oath of office. The real-world impact would be that any actions taken by this constitutionally barred person while in office would be invalid.
That’s not just my view but also instructively the analysis provided by constitutional law expert John Bonifaz—who serves as President of Free Speech For the People, a non-partisan organization dedicated to defending our Constitution.
With respect to Donald Trump, Bonifaz explained bluntly that given the court rulings finding Trump engaged in an insurrection in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, he will be an illegitimate president--unless Congress votes before he is sworn in to lift this constitutionally mandated prohibition.
Taking a step back, I have written repeatedly over the past few years that Trump engaged in an insurrection with his attempted coup and Jan. 6 attack. In August 2023, I even led a campaign urging people to email their Secretary of States urging them to disqualify Trump from the ballot. This issue has always been one of vital importance to me given it’s about protecting our nation from a man who attempted a coup and incited a terrorist attack.
Thankfully, the Colorado Supreme Court in December 2023 ruled that Jan. 6 was an “insurrection” as defined by Section 3 and Trump “engaged” in that insurrection. The court, thus, concluded that Trump is “disqualified from holding the office of President.” (It’s important to note that this court ruling was not focused on Trump being on the ballot—but being barred from holding the office of President.)
Bonifaz’s own organization has also led the charge to bar Trump in other states, with judges and election officials ruling Trump “engaged in insurrection” in violation of the 14th Amendment. And while the US Supreme Court ruled in March of last year that States could not bar Trump from the ballot—only Congress could—they did not overturn the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court that Trump had “engaged in an insurrection.”
Those are the facts. That means—as Bonifaz explained-Trump is disqualified from office for engaging in an insurrection. The only way Trump could be legitimately sworn in is if two-thirds of the Senate and the House both vote to remove that constitutional bar—as the 14th Amendment proscribes.
If Congress does not act, as Bonifaz stated, there is “no question about it, Trump will be an illegitimate President.” Yes, Trump will be an illegitimate President! What that means in the real world, Bonifaz continued, is that “every action Trump takes will be illegitimate and will be subject to a Federal court challenge.” Bonifaz warned such a scenario is “putting ourselves in uncharted territory here given we have a provision of the constitution that clearly disqualifies Trump from office.”
In addition, Bonifaz is urging members of Congress during the Jan. 6 certification of the 2024 results to uphold the Constitution and object to Trump’s victory citing the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment. The recent revisions of the Electoral Count Act requires 20% of members of the House and Senate to object—up from just one from in each chamber. He continued that means “87 members of the House, 20 members of the Senate could, in fact, come together and say, we're going to raise this question.”
Bonifaz pleaded with members of Congress “to uphold their own oaths and to defend the Constitution” by objecting on Jan. 6. He added passionately, “We don't just throw out certain constitutional qualifications because it no longer feels politically right to do so. Rather, what's politically right is to stand up for the Constitution today and to stand up for our democracy.”
He added another great point, reminding us we heard from, “Democratic leaders going into this election that Donald Trump is a fascist. We heard that Donald Trump is a threat to our Republic. We heard that Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy.” But he added: “What are we hearing now? Crickets. We're not hearing that anymore.”
Of course, in the real world we know that even if 20% of Democrats in House and Senate forced a vote on disqualifying Trump, since the GOP controls both chambers, it will not succeed. But that doesn’t mean Democrats should ignore our Constitution. They should stand up and fight--even if this specific battle might be unwinnable. The Democratic base wants fighters-not people who sit by while our Constitution is being violated.
However, regardless of what Congress does, we have a role to play from a political point of view. We should all refer to Trump as an illegitimate President. After all, this is the same Trump who sought to delegitimize President Obama with his racist birther campaign. Then he sought to delegitimize President Biden with election fraud lies. And this is the same Trump who repeatedly lied that he won the 2024 election in a “landslide” who has a “mandate.”
In this case, we have the U.S. Constitution on our side. Trump engaged in an insurrection and is thereby barred from office. We shouldn’t care that MAGA is fine with an insurrectionist as their leader. To us, Trump will always be an illegitimate President who should not be heading to the White House. Rather, he rightfully should be reporting to prison.
You can watch my full interview with constitutional law expert John Bonifaz discussing why Trump is barred and will be an illegitimate President below:
Good points, and if the Congress and Senate members, who swore to protect and defend the Constitution, ignore the 14th amendment, Trump will indeed be illegitimate, and every thing he does could be challenged in a court of law. And being illegitimate, the "immunity" provided by the Supreme Court should not apply.
When the hell with this con job NOT get away with everything, when. ! ! ! ! !