So, here’s a terrifying thought… What will we do if the Supreme Court of the United States decides, in the coming weeks, that Donald Trump should be/remain on the ballot across the country in November?

At what point in this arduous, tedious process will we—as a People and as a nation—decide that enough is enough and disobey a SCOTUS which will have clearly given up on the Constitution and the Rule of Law? I’m certainly not advocating for any form of violence—political or otherwise—but what I am asking is when will we arrive at civil disobedience? If the Court decides in Trump’s favour and places his name on the ballot nationwide, is that not a clear abdication of the Court’s role in protecting and defending the Constitution? Should Secretaries of State blindly comply with a decision by the Court to place Trump on the ballot, should it come to that? Would it not be a breakdown of the Rule of Law if the Court makes such an obviously unconstitutional, unreasonable decision? And, if so, at that point what would compel the Secretaries of State across the nation to follow through on such a decision? If the Court goes off the rails, are we still obligated to comply with the Court’s decision(s)?

If the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is declared unenforceable or irrelevant by the Supreme Court, what protects the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.? It’s unthinkable that we’re even having this conversation. It’s tantamount to someone committing murder and using the 2nd Amendment as their defence… successfully.

Various legal and constitutional scholars on both sides of the aisle have said, in plain English, that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is a self-executing qualification for holding office. And, as such, that Donald Trump is forever and completely disqualified, banned, and barred from holding any office of any authority in the United States. Short of a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress absolving him for his participation in the January 6th Insurrection, the 14th Amendment is very clear. Even if it weren’t, the contemporaneous writings of the 14th Amendment’s framers illustrate, unambiguously, its intent!

Look, I believe in the Constitutional Republic that is the United States of America. I believe in Federalism. But, reader, I am very nervous about the trajectory we are collectively on here.

We’ve seen what a Trump presidency looks like, and we overwhelmingly rejected that reality. The People have decided! So anyone suggesting that we should throw out the 14th Amendment and let Trump run again so that “the people can decide” has their head in the clouds.

And, I’ll point out, it was after that decision was made that Trump summoned an armed, violent mob to Washington, DC and sent them on a march to the Capital to forestall and overturn that decision. That was the point at which Donald Trump disqualified himself! He did this to himself! No one else in the entire world encouraged or supported his decision to direct the mob at the Capital. And no one else in the entire world supported or encouraged his decision to sit idly by for 187 minutes while the mob ransacked the Capital, threatened the Speaker of the House and the Vice President, and delayed the certification of the 2020 election. Trump did this to himself.