Some Democrats in Congress are mulling whether to vote against certifying the results of this year's presidential election should former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, prevail.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether Colorado can keep Trump off its Republican presidential primary ballot because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies from office those who engage in insurrection against the Constitution after taking an oath to support it.
Colorado's Supreme Court ruled in December that Trump participated in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, even though he has never been charged with such a crime.
The 139 House Republicans and eight GOP senators who objected to certifying the 2020 election resulted in one or two states harshly criticized by Democrats, yet several senior Democrats told The Atlantic they would not certify a Trump victory in November if the Supreme Court does not clearly rule on his eligibility.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and a member of the Judiciary Committee, told The Atlantic that Trump is "clearly ineligible" but said the process of challenging his win is "very murky," adding "there's no procedure, per se, for challenging on this basis."
Lofgren said she "might be” among legislators who would seek to disqualify him.
It might be more difficult for Democrats to successfully challenge a Trump victory. Before Congress amended the Electoral Count Act in December 2022, it took only one representative and one senator to object in writing to force a roll call vote on a state's slate of electors. Democrats used that maneuver to object to certification of George W. Bush's victories in 2000 and 2004 and Trump's victory in 2016.
But under the new rules, it will take one-fifth from each chamber — 87 members from the House and 20 from the Senate — to force a vote on a state's slate of electors.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif, who served on the House select committee that investigated Trump's role in the events of Jan. 6, said it "would be a colossal disaster" should the Supreme Court not rule on Trump's eligibility and defer to Congress.
"We already had one horrendous Jan. 6," said Schiff, who was censured by the House in June for, among other things, "repeatedly telling these falsehoods" about investigations of Trump. "We don't need another."
Should the Supreme Court rule Trump eligible, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., one of the former president's fiercest critics, said he would vote for certification.
"I'm going to follow the law," Swalwell said. "I would not object out of protest of how the Supreme Court comes down. It would be doing what I didn't like about the Jan. 6 Republicans."
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, told The Atlantic the threat of violence could influence what Democrats do if Trump wins. But he said it wouldn't stop them from trying to disqualify him.
"We might just decide that's something we need to prepare for," he said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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