A tax attorney in Palm Beach County, Florida has filed a lawsuit attempting to get Donald Trump disqualified from the 2024 presidential race due to an alleged 14th Amendment violation.
Lawrence Caplan, who has an advanced degree in taxation from the University of Miami School of Law – not a degree in Constitutional Law, filed a challenge in federal court late last week.
“The bottom line here is that President Trump both engaged in an insurrection and also gave aid and comfort to other individuals who were engaging in such actions, within the clear meaning of those terms as defined in Section Three of the 14th Amendment,” Caplan’s court filing reads.
“Assuming that the public record to date is accurate, and we have no evidence to the contrary, Trump is no longer eligible to seek the office of the President of the United States, or of any other state of the Union,” he contends.
NEW: A challenge has been filed in federal court to have Donald Trump removed from the 2024 race under the 14th Amendment.
Mark my words: They’ll claim they’re doing this to “protect democracy.”
Attorney Lawrence Caplan filed a challenge claiming Trump cannot legally be on the… pic.twitter.com/BKBgqrxOmL
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 26, 2023
Attempting To Disqualify Trump Via The 14th Amendment
This is precisely where indictments stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the January 6th riot at the Capitol were meant to ultimately lead.
It’s also being fleshed out via Trump’s indictment on 13 counts in Georgia over alleged efforts to “overturn” the 2020 presidential election.
They are clearly trying to lay the legal groundwork for a 14th Amendment claim to bar him from ever holding public office. And Caplan, who specializes in tax law, was one of the first to bite, not knowing any better.
Trump’s enemies have new plan to take him out. Idea is: 14th Amendment bars him from office. And it’s ‘self-enacting’! ‘Constitutionally automatic’! He’s out! Off ballot! No need for hearing, trial, ruling, legislation, or messy due process. Just gone. https://t.co/qubpUDrTWC
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 28, 2023
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is a rarely cited Civil War-era provision that bars individuals from holding office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
High-ranking Confederates, in other words. Or Democrats, if you look over your history.
From a legal standpoint, Caplan’s argument suffers from precedence. Trump was impeached in January of 2021 on the charge of “incitement of insurrection,” but was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.
The party that screamed about democracy and fair elections for the past several years is now using a misinterpretation of a Constitutional Civil War relic to make sure you can’t vote for the person you want to see in the White House.
The real insurrectionists are rearing their ugly little heads.
The authors of the 14th Amendment wrote this after the Civil War. It’s quite clear THAT’S what they meant by an insurrection, not an unarmed protest that, while it did get out of hand, was more peaceful than that riot CNN deemed a mostly peaceful protest. pic.twitter.com/1GD8W9YeCC
— Rich Muny ?? (@RichMuny) August 26, 2023
This Has Been The Argument Since Day 1
Liberals have been arguing of the usage of the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump from ever holding office again since day one.
On January 6th, 2021, the Business Insider ran a column arguing that not only should the former President be barred from office, but that Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) should be removed from office on the same premise.
The Senators, they wrote, “helped incite this insurrection by following Trump’s lead in objecting to the results of the election.”
Oddly enough, Democrats had a history of “objecting to the results of an election’ dating back more than 20 years, legally objecting to the electoral process in numerous past elections:
- 15 Democrats objected to counting Florida’s electoral votes in 2000.
- 31 Democrats voted in favor of rejecting electoral votes from Ohio in 2004.
- 7 different Democrats objected 11 times to certifying the results of the 2016 presidential election.
Nobody called it an insurrection. And nobody mentioned the 14th Amendment.
September 2019: Hillary blames election interference for Trump’s victory in 2016.
August 2023: Donald Trump has been indicted for exercising his right to free speech.
When will Democrats face indictments for their claims about 2016? pic.twitter.com/CGZycHmjYd
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) August 24, 2023
Caplan, now playing the role of useful idiot for the left, also donated hundreds of dollars to candidates for the Democrat party several years ago.
He donated to the late Senator Harry Reid’s campaign in 2009 and former Senator Bill Nelson in 2011.
Reid, in his 2020 book, falsely claimed there was “no question” Russia manipulated vote totals to help Trump win the presidential election in 2016.
Harry Reid says he is convinced Russia “manipulated” votes in 2016 so @realDonaldTrump would win. https://t.co/u30BJ61oEt
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 26, 2020
“I think one reason the elections weren’t what they should have been was because the Russians manipulated the votes,” Reid wrote. “It’s that simple.”
“It doesn’t take a math expert to understand that by changing a few votes, the outcome will be different. So, I have no doubt,” he added.
It was a fake news narrative believed by a staggering 67% of Democrats and very likely, since most legacy media is comprised of left-wingers, a good portion of the media. The Senate Intelligence Committee would later debunk the conspiracy theory.
To date, no Democrats who pushed that false news story or the Russia collusion hoax have been barred from holding office.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
