In this summer’s blockbuster film about the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer is discussing whether the world was prepared for it. “They won’t fear it until they understand it,” he says. “And they won’t understand it until they use it.”
If a nuclear reaction is begun by the splitting of an atom, in our country’s current politics, a chain reaction of legal and electoral chaos may well be triggered by the nomination of Donald Trump as the GOP’s presidential candidate. Perhaps you’ve heard the story. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was passed in the wake of the Civil War, forbids anyone who has “previously taken an oath” to support the Constitution and who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from ever holding office again. While there is an argument that blanket amnesties passed by Congress essentially nullify this provision, that view was rejected last year by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a comprehensive and thoughtful paper, law professors Will Baude and Michael Paulsen argue that Trump’s conduct following the 2020 election and leading up to the events of January 6, 2021, constitutes insurrection, thus making him constitutionally disqualified from running for president. Other scholars disagree.
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