1) The president is not an officer of the United States? Seriously? Or is his argument that the presidential oath does not include the word "support" but rather "preserve, protect and defend"? That should get laughed out of court immediately and by any sane person. This clearly excludes magats.

2) The Constitution is not a self executing authority. Interesting. What keeps a 25 year old from getting on the ballot? Or a foreign born citizen? Or the citizen of a foreign country? Are there actual federal laws that have been enacted or are these restriction also not currently enforceable due to no federal law implementing them? I have no idea.

3) CO has 1A right to choose a candidate that is not eligible to be president? That might be the strongest argument because this case is not about election to the presidency but becoming a party's nominee. SCOTUS might well find that there is no restriction on nominees, only on presidents.

Of course, this would just postpone the case until after the insurrectionist was nominated and filed to appear on the CO ballot. On first blush I think that raises the stakes because for SCOTUS to find that CO can keep him off the ballot there it seems they must decide on the merits of 1 or 2, or something else. A finding against Trump would seem to go a long way toward disqualifying him to be president. Or SCOTUS could say it's a political decision and they won't get involved. What a horrifyingly cowardly out but they might take it.



[Post edited by 81_Hokie at 12/28/2023 09:32AM]