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Notes -
What would be the appropriate response from the courts if Obama tried to run for a third term? What if he was really popular?
The issue at hand, which I don't think most of the comments here are addressing, is that a significant number of politicians, lawyers, etc believe that President Trump is disqualified from being on the ballot in the same way that Obama is disqualified from the ballot. They mostly come to this conclusion by looking at the January 6th report.
The most significant thing is that the court ruled that the January 6th report could be admitted into evidence and is being used as fact. The Supreme Court of the United States cannot contest that as it is a state-level decision, and the USC decides matters of law, not fact.
The cries that this is anti-democratic is missing the point. Restrictions on our elections are intentionally anti-democratic, but our books are full of them. Term limits, age limits, etc. This suits me, as I much prefer to live in a Republic than a Democracy.
The Supreme Court can certainly rule on state-level issues in its capacity as an appellate court from a State's highest court. That the January 6th report is admissible is a matter of law, not of fact. Furthermore, while appeals courts are indeed supposed to defer to trial courts as to matters of fact, this deference is not absolute --- and when it comes to the US Supreme Court, the deference is basically as much or as little as they care to give.
Playing cute games like accepting a partisan document as "fact" and then telling the US Supreme Court that it is beyond their review only works if SCOTUS plays along.
I wish we could amend Article 14 and change it to "convicted of insurrection in a court of law" or something like that. Most restrictions to office are ones that can be resolved by a simple glance at a birth certificate or official register.
By "I wish we could" I mean that the political will to come together and amend the Constitution no longer exists and I do not expect it to ever exist again. It is ironic that an article intending to defend against insurrection might be a cause of one.
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