Using the 14th Amendment to raise debt ceiling is perfect given MAGA is today’s Confederacy

MAGA is why there's a 14th Amendment, Section 4

We are seeing an increasing number of Democrats—from the grassroots to members of the Senate and House--urging President Biden to invoke Section 4 of the 14^th Amendment to authorize the Secretary of Treasury to borrow above the current debt limit of the $31 trillion dollars. They get that MAGA Republicans are hellbent on causing a default to crash the economy because they believe that would help Trump win in 2024.

Biden himself on Sunday noted that very concern (as I wrote about) and indicated he’s open to this approach. The President stated, “I think we have the authority” to utilize the 14th Amendment. He signaled, however that the move could face legal challenges. “The question is, could it be done and invoked in time that it could not – would not be appealed?” he said.

From a legal point of view, this previously untested 14^th Amendment approach does have support by various legal scholars. Of course, though, there is uncertainty given we don’t have a definitive Supreme Court decision on the issue.

But putting aside this legal question, the history of Section 4 of the 14^th Amendment makes it the perfect tool to use to save our nation from economic calamity posed by MAGA.  This provision of the 14^th Amendment was enacted to protect the United States from potential economic calamity caused by the former Confederate states returning to the Union after the Civil War. Bluntly, MAGA is a modern-day version of the Confederacy and Trump is their Jefferson Davis.

The 14^th Amendment was passed by Congress a little over a year after the Civil War ended and was ultimately ratified in July 1868. A major provision of this Amendment--one of the three added after the Civil War—granted citizenship to, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby guaranteeing citizenship to formerly enslaved people. This Amendment is also noteworthy for constitutionally providing “due process” and “equal protection” under the law.

Many of us have also become familiar in the post-Jan 6 America with Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment that bars from federal office anyone who had previously sworn an oath to the United States and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”  (This provision has in fact be used to block one Trump loving Republican from office.)

But now we come to Section 4. The entire Section reads as follows: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.”

The legislative discussions in Congress before this provision passed makes it clear the express goal was to protect our nation’s economy from those who waged the Civil War against it.

As the Congressional Research Service explained, before the Civil War, the Constitution included the “three fifths compromise” that declared enslaved people would be counted as three-fifths of a free individual for the purposes of determining congressional representation. The "Three-Fifths Clause," thereby, increased the political power of slaveholding states.

With slavery ended and the Confederate states about to rejoin the United States, members of Congress from the Union states set out to ensure the formerly enslaved people had equal rights. But counting former slaves as whole persons for purposes of apportionment would greatly increase the size of compressional delegations from former Confederate states.  Representative James Garfield of Ohio estimated that those states would gain at least 15 seats and others estimated gains of 40 to 60 seats. This potential shift in political power raised alarms that a future coalition of Confederate state members of Congress could vote to repudiate federal debts—including those incurred by the Union in fighting the Confederate states.

Add to that, the Union members of Congress were repulsed at the idea of allowing the former Confederate stats’s representatives to wreak havoc on the US economy after waging their rebellion.   Yale Law school Constitutional Law professor Jack M. Balkin  detailed the discussions on this very point.

As Balkin explained, Senator Jacob Howard, a leading Republican from Michigan and the floor manager of the 14^th Amendment, argued that the Union had no obligation to pay the Confederate debt, which had been contracted to support a "wicked war" to destroy the Union. Howard stated on the Senate floor about the idea of paying debts of the Confederacy: “I do not believe in paying traitors, nor do I believe in indemnifying men abroad who, with their eyes open and a malignity in their heart beyond all parallel, gave them aid and comfort.”

Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio--another leader of the Republicans--agreed with Howard but noted that if the concern was to avoid future disruption of American politics, the current proposal did not go far enough. He argued that it was also necessary to guarantee the Union debt, because former rebels or rebel sympathizers who returned to Congress might out of “selfish or malicious motives seek to cause economic strife.”

Senator Wade's explanation of his proposal—which was adopted-- to guarantee all debts be paid resonates greatly today. Wade stated in part: “I believe that to do this will give great confidence to capitalists and will be of incalculable pecuniary benefit to the United States, for I have no doubt that every man who has property in the public funds will feel safer when he sees that the national debt is withdrawn from the power of a Congress to repudiate it and placed under the guardianship of the Constitution than he would feel if it were left at loose ends and subject to the varying majorities which may arise in Congress.”

As Prof Balkin explained: “Wade's speech offers the central rationale for Section Four, namely that “the goal was to remove threats of default on federal debts from partisan struggle.” He added, “Reconstruction Republicans feared that Democrats, once admitted to Congress would use their majorities to default on obligations they did dislike politically.” Concluding, “Section Four was placed in the Constitution to remove this weapon from ordinary politics.”

This very concern from the 1860’s of the former Confederates causing harm to our nation’s economy for political reasons has been replaced with today’s threat posed by Trump and MAGA.

Trump and his MAGA co-conspirators in Congress who worked with him to wage an insurrection are the ones leading the default charge.  Trump has publicly embraced causing a default--which he knows would be catastrophic to our economy-- saying if Biden doesn’t give in to all of the GOP’s demands “you’re going to have to do a default.” 

And the members of the Trump loving House Freedom Caucus have been demanding since last week that GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy walk away from the talks—setting up a default scenario.

As we all lived through, it was Trump and the leaders of the Freedom Caucus who gave us the Jan 6 insurrection. Obviously, the entire coup attempt and Jan 6 attack were a Donald J. Trump production. It is what he wanted. 

Add to that, Freedom Caucus leaders played a very visible role in the attempted coup from Marjorie Taylor Greene to Paul Gosar to especially Jim Jordan. As I’ve written about in the past, the Jan 6 committee’s report makes it clear that Jordan was the GOP member of Congress who played the biggest role in Trump’s attempted coup, writing Jordan was "a significant player in President Trump's efforts" to overturn the 2020 election.

These very people who attempted to sabotage our democracy on Jan 6 cannot be allowed to now sabotage our economy to help return Trump to power.

Section 4 of the 14^th Amendment was enacted to protect our Republic from economic strife caused by the traitors of the Confederacy. Today this provision of the Constitution is the perfect weapon to be wielded to protect our nation from Trump and his band of traitorous confederates who waged an insurrection against the United States of America.  

---