The U.S. Supreme Court has taken an action it often prohibits other branches of government from taking: overreaching its authority by telling Congress what it should do with regard to enforcing the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the so-called insurrection clause.
That’s the gist of the court’s ruling Monday on whether Colorado can prohibit ex-President Donald Trump from being on the ballot. That state’s Supreme Court determined he engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6, 2001, and therefore made himself ineligible for the presidency. But it’s important to know three liberal justices plus conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, while agreeing with the conclusion that only Congress can invoke the insurrection clause, differed from the other five on the specifics.
Liberal Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor said the majority ruling erred in saying Congress could only enforce the insurrection provision by passing legislation. The minority report suggested Congress and other federal agencies would have a number of options to enforcing the provision. The overall ruling only said states cannot determine qualification of federal candidates.
Coney Barrett waxed philosophical, saying the court has no role in turning up the heat in a divisive country, and so it should not be telling a divided Congress what to do on enforcing the insurrection clause, which she said is a complicated question.
Of course, the ruling leads observers to suggest an all-Democratic Congress could vote to rule Trump ineligible even if he won the election. The Supreme Court ruling leaves that possibility open, though it would come with a lot of civil unrest and other unintended consequences.
Other observers say the ruling effectively repeals the insurrection clause.
We believe enforcement and modification, if necessary, of the insurrection issue should lie with leaders and representatives who are elected by the people. That means the executive branch, whose head is elected by the people, or the legislative branch, who also draw their power from the governed.
The people don’t elect the Supreme Court, and given the political sabotage that accompanied the selection of some of the justices, they shouldn’t be telling Congress how to do its job.