LETTER TO THE EDITOR / ELIGIBILITY
By Roger C. Kostmayer
In spite of a few law review articles, interviews with legal scholars, Konk News and KW Lou, there hasn’t been enough focus on who is eligible and not eligible to be on the 2024 ballot for President of the United States.
The US Constitution tells us the requirements for getting on the ballot, and they include citizenship, age and not having engaged in insurrection. It is not terribly complicated – a two sentence paragraph called Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. It makes anyone who violated their Constitutional oath of office, by engaging in insurrection, ineligible for candidacy for President and many other positions. That means not allowing their name to be on a ballot. The only exception would require a two-thirds vote by the Congress.
Clearly, this amendment isn’t about punishment for a crime, its about a requirement to be eligible to run for a government position that has the Constitutional power to serve the American people. Top Constitutional scholars and conservative senior judges believe the government official who must approve candidates who want to be on the ballot is REQUIRED by the Constitution to reject anyone described by Amendment 14, Section 3.
It’s certain there will be law suits that end up in the Supreme Court if a former president who “engaged in insurrection” attempts to get on the 2024 ballot.
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Redefining a riot at the Capitol as an insurrection, does not allow partisan officials to deprive their political adversaries of their Constitutional right to run for office.