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Donald Trump has suffered a great many legal defeats of late, but the former president did receive some good news from the Supreme Court earlier this month: The justices agreed that the Republican was eligible for the 2024 ballot.
The ruling was not unexpected, but the underlying question was not a foregone conclusion: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars any public official who swore an oath to protect the Constitution from holding office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it or gave “aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” Not surprisingly, some Trump critics made the case that these provisions prohibited the former president from running again.
The justices disagreed, which in turn left a related question: Does the 14th Amendment’s Section 3 still have enough teeth to block anyone from appearing on a ballot?
Apparently, yes. NBC News reported:
The legal argument that worked for President Donald Trump failed to deliver for one of his supporters Monday as the Supreme Court turned away a New Mexico man who was kicked out of local office over his role in the events of Jan. 6. Couy Griffin, a founder of Cowboys for Trump, was criminally convicted over his role in the Jan. 6 riot and lost his job as a county commissioner as a result.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
The Cowboys for Trump co-founder went to Washington, D.C., for Jan. 6, and was ultimately convicted in federal court for entering Capitol grounds without going inside. Griffin was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.
Six months later, a New Mexico judge, pointing to the Jan. 6 conviction, not only barred the Republican county commissioner from seeking re-election, the judge also ordered Griffin to give up his local elected position immediately.
It was the first time since 1869 in which any public official had been disqualified from participating in government due to an allegation of engaging in an insurrection.
(Griffin’s name was already familiar in some circles: The Republican rose to national attention in May 2020 when he spoke at a New Mexico church and declared, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.” Trump then thought it’d be a good idea to promote a clip of the remarks via social media.)
Griffin ultimately appealed his defeat, but the Supreme Court passed on his case.
As for why the 14th Amendment applied to the New Mexico Republican and not Trump, my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin explained that the high court’s ruling blocked states from disqualifying would-be candidates for federal offices, but states are still able to disqualify would-be candidates for state offices.
Or as Jordan concluded, the Cowboys for Trump co-founder can’t run for the county commission in New Mexico, but thanks to the Supreme Court, he could run for president.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.