Democrats Have Seven Weeks to Block Trump From Running for Office

Democratic Representative David Cicilline circulated a letter among party colleagues to invoke the 14th Amendment in anticipation of Donald Trump's announcement to run again for president.

Cicilline spokesperson Jennifer Bell confirmed to Newsweek that the letter, titled "Stop Donald Trump from holding federal office again," began being circulated Tuesday evening. She said the Rhode Island congressman first informed his colleagues he was working on such legislation last December.

He outlined his case by referencing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that no person shall hold any office if they "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Cicilline, a former House impeachment manager, wrote that Trump "forfeited his right to ever hold federal office again for leading an insurrection against the United States." He cited "proof demonstrated" through the January 6 committee hearings, the 2021 impeachment trial, and "other reporting" that Trump's engagement in the insurrection was done "with the intention of overturning the lawful 2020 election results."

"This language in our Constitution clearly intended to bar insurrectionists from holding high office in the United States," Cicilline wrote.

Aside from Trump helping "to plan and encourage the insurgence on January 6th despite knowing that the election results were lawful," Cicilline also mentioned how Trump "tried to manipulate Mike Pence into unlawfully refusing to certify the election result."

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment stipulates that at least a two-thirds majority of each chamber, the House of Representatives and the Senate, must vote to expel a sitting member of Congress.

Gerard Magliocca, the Samuel R. Rosen professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, told Newsweek that currently there "is no such rule for determining that someone is ineligible under Section Three."

"The only rule there is that Congress may grant someone an exemption from disqualification," he said.

The invocation of the 14th Amendment differs among members of Congress and a former president.

"The bill that the congressman [Cicilline] is talking about would only express Congress's opinion that Trump is disqualified," Magliocca continued. "Only a court can actually disqualify him. A congressional statement saying that Trump is disqualified would get some weight in the courts (much as a similar statement by the January 6th Committee would), but the courts would not have to agree."

As Democrats are projected to lose their majority in the House following last week's midterm elections, time is of the essence if their pursuit of invoking the 14th Amendment is legitimate.

New House members take over January 3, 2023, though the last session in that chamber is December 15.

Members from across the aisle in Cicilline's home state, some with formerly close ties to Trump, have expressed ambivalence toward another presidential run.

WPRI in Providence reported that Joe Trillo, who served as the chairman of Trump's 2016 campaign in Rhode Island, thinks the former president's time is up.

"I think he's going to lose," Trillo said. "There are too many people out there that can't accept his childish behavior....It's time to move on. I think he was a good president, it's not that he wasn't a good president...but he keeps shooting himself in the head over and over, and people have had it."

Other Republicans nationwide have expressed similar sentiments.

Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairman Joe McNamara called Trump "unfit for office."

"It is clear that a president constantly entrenched in legal trouble, who denies a fair election, incites an insurrection and abuses his power at every turn is not what Americans want for our future," McNamara told WPRI in a statement. "Donald Trump has shown us time and time again that he's only capable of serving one person: Donald Trump."