Multiple House Democrats are now signaling that they might not certify the results of the 2024 presidential election if Donald Trump were to win, claiming that the 14th amendment prevents Trump from holding public office.
Representatives James Clyburn (D-SC), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies refused to say this week that they will definitely certify the results of the eleciton, even if Trump won, the Daily Wire reported.
To refuse to certify the results would require a simple majority in both houses. A Trump win but both houses voting Democrat would be an unlikely scenario. Republicans currently control a narrow margin in the House with Democrats narrowly holding the Senate. Every seat in the House is up for grabs in 2024 but Democrats will have to hold every Senate seat they currently hold, which is unlikely with West Virginia being a deep red state and Manchin announcing that he will not be runnng for re-election, or would have to flip a Republican seat, Texas or Florida being the most likely.
The Supreme Court could however rule that the 14th amendment can not be applied to today, which seems pretty likely, with even the liberal justices hestitant to support the effort.
Justice Elena Kagan was among the toughest, asking the Colorado legal team “Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination not only for their own citizens but also for the nation? It sounds awfully national to me … if you weren’t from Colorado, and you were from Wisconsin, or you were from Michigan, and what the Michigan secretary of state did is going to make the difference between whether candidate A is elected over Candidate B is elected? I mean that seems quite extraordinary.”
Others, including Impeachment lawyer for both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Alan Dershowitz, have argued that the 14th amendment is only about the civil war and can not be applied to today without a proper procedure to remove a presidential candidate, which he has said does not exist.