WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s acquittal by the Senate in his impeachment trial may not be the end of the line for efforts to keep him from seeking the presidency again.
If Trump chooses to run for the White House in 2024, opponents are likely to call on a constitutional provision adopted after the Civil War to try to stop him. The Supreme Court could have the final say.
The Constitution’s 14th Amendment disqualifies from future office any former elected officials and military officers who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States. Ratified in 1868, the language in Section 3 of the amendment was aimed at former Confederate civilian and military leaders.
It could be applied to people who incited or took part in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, legal scholars said, noting that a congressional commission to investigate the attack and lawsuits against Trump could help make clearer his role in the deadly insurrection that day.