The swearing in text of the Office of the President of the United States: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The text of Section 3 of Amendment 14: “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.”
The court most decide if the POTUS is “an officer of the United States.” Note that neither “president” nor “conviction” is mentioned as a part of the exclusion clause. Trump’s team will argue that, since the word “president” is not mentioned, Section 3 does not apply. Note also that there was no “conviction” of the confederate leaders whom the United States did not want to have hold high political office. And “conviction” was left out of the text. They believed in the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.
IMHO, the 4-3 decision of the Colorado Supreme Court excluding Trump from the Colorado primary will be overturned by the conservative SCOTUS. And God help our country after that. Do you think I will be able to post items such as this in the media? I could not in N Korea, China, Russia or Hungary — all led by people whom Trump admires.
Gerard Freisinger
Warwick