NY Times Op-Ed: Give People the Power to Decide on Trump

In response to the U.S. efforts to disqualify Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballots, a law professor argued in the New York Times that Trump’s removal is ambiguous, at best, and that voters should be allowed to make their own decision about the former president.

Maine’s secretary of state ruled that Trump will be ineligible for the state’s primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a decision likely to be appealed to the state’s Supreme Court.

The Michigan Supreme Court’s close decision ruled that Trump can stay on the primary ballot. However, there is a possibility of a future challenge concerning his inclusion on the general election ballot.

Currently, the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that removed Trump from the primary ballot is the only challenge that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

New York Times opinion writer and University of Richmond School of Law professor Kurt Lash suggested that the Supreme Court should overturn the Colorado high court’s ruling based on a reason cited by the Colorado judges in an earlier, unrelated case.

Lash noted that Section 3 should be interpreted in light of the objective sought to be achieved and the mischief to be avoided.

According to Lash, Section 3 is concerned with state-level decision making and addresses three positions – the Senate, the House, and state-selected presidential electors.

Lash stated that there is no evidence of any ratifier discussing Section 3 and no one has found evidence that any ratifier considered the possibility that Section 3 abridged the people’s right to choose their president.

Former Attorney General Reverdy Johnson initially assumed that the framers excluded the office of president. Johnson later accepted a colleague’s suggestion to the contrary, but it may have created the same presumption in the minds of ratifiers.

Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter, covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.