Trump’s Presidency and the Insurrection

Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus (pictured at left) says,

“Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars Donald Trump from taking the oath of office.”  This is the amendment that disqualifies former government officials from holding office if they took an oath to support the Constitution but then betrayed it by engaging in an insurrection.

I’ll be stunned if this turns out to provide even a small hiccup in Trump’s inauguration, principally because he hasn’t been convicted, and, at this point, likely never will be.

Now, I understand that this clause was put into place after the Civil War to prevent leaders of the confederacy from holding high-level U.S. political posts, and that these people had not been convicted of crimes.  Still, as much respect as I have for Dr. Tribe, I don’t see it.   We have a 14th Amendment, but we also have a 5th, which promises us all due process.