Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General National Commission to Investigate the January 6

These sedition charges might just be the cases that prove Trump and a number of other Republicans gave "aid or comfort" to insurrectionists, and gets them banned from running for any elective office. It's perfectly clear right there in the constitution that this is what's supposed to happen. Even one plea deal that winds up with a guilty plea to seditious conspiracy against the United States opens the floodgates.

In North Carolina, voters have filed an objection with the Board of Elections to Madison Cawthorn filing for his next reelection, on violation of the 14th amendment grounds. This might get interesting, since the constitution just states the restriction, and says congress can vote to lift it. It doesn't say anything about who decides it applies to a particular person. But the fact that it explicitly mentions congress lifting the restrictions means they did not think congress should decide when to apply them. In spite of that, congress has done just that after the civil war when it refused to seat members who were Confederates. But the Amendment says they are not allowed to run, not run, get elected, and then be denied seats in congress. So maybe that "precedent" does not apply?

But who else would decide? If not congress, that just leaves the judicial and executive branches. I would think a court decision would convince the President. But the House Jan 6th committee could refer multiple cases to the Justice Department for prosecution. There IS a federal statute that says essentially the same thing, but specifies fines and prison sentences as well. Prosecuting those cases has no questionable interpretation.