Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that the U.S. Constitution disqualified former President Donald Trump from holding the office of the presidency.
Luttig said, “Our Constitution is written for the most part in broad, open-ended capacious language that in which the restraints on our government are defined, and our rights and liberties as Americans are defined in broadest principle. On the other end of that continuum of language in our Constitution are much more specific provisions akin to statutes in which the Constitution defines, for instance, the qualifications for the presidency of the United States.
He continued, “One of those qualifications is that the president must be 35 years of age. The disqualification provision of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and, therefore, the imposition of that qualification for the presidency, is stated in perhaps the clearest language possible in the Constitution. It is unmistakable applicable to the former president and his role in activities on January 6.”
Luttig added, “The question is not whether the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applies to the former president. It unquestionably does. The questions that the Supreme Court must decide eventually are rather more technical Constitutional questions. For instance, whether the clause is self-executing and which particular officials are in a position to challenge the qualification of the former president. But in terms of the process, the process is quite clear. I believe to a certainty that there will be secretaries of states in several of the states who will decline to place the former president on the ballot, arguing that he is unqualified by virtue of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN