Fourteenth Amendment, Trump Disqualification Debate
Trump disqualification debate
See also: Federal prosecution of Donald Trump (election obstruction case)
In August 2023, two prominent conservative legal scholars, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, wrote in a research paper that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies Donald Trump from being president as a consequence of his actions involving attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.[212][213] Conservative legal scholar J. Michael Luttig and liberal legal scholar Laurence Tribe soon concurred in an article they co-wrote, arguing Section 3 protections are automatic and "self-executing", independent of congressional action.[214] Luttig explained the reasoning during television appearances.[215] A court may be required to make a final determination that Trump was disqualified under Section 3, according to some legal scholars.[192][215][216] Some secretaries of state, who oversee elections in states, soon began preparing for potential challenges relating to whether Trump might be excluded from November 2024 ballots.[217][218]
On August 24, 2023, Lawrence Caplan, a tax attorney in Palm Beach County, Florida, filed a challenge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to disqualify Trump from the 2024 General Election, citing the 14th Amendment.[219][220] One week later on September 1, United States District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg dismissed the case for lack of standing.[221]