Rick, as plain as day is section 5 of the 14th amendment. “The congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.” By provision they mean the different sections. Congress did pass the appropriate legislation during the civil war declaring the south in a state of insurrection and then passed numerous laws to enforce all sections of the 14th on the south.
Congress never did this for 1-6. By not doing so, it means officially, legally, 1-6 wasn’t an insurrection. You can’t have an insurrectionist if there was no insurrection. Also, part of the ruling was that the states can’t enforce section 3 without the congress giving them the authority to enforce it by appropriate legislation to do so. This was done after the civil war and ratification of the 14th by the numerous laws passed by congress. But not for 1-6. I can’t see how the SCOTUS could have ruled any other way.
Also keep in mind. No one thought of applying the 14th to Trump until 3 or 4 months after 1-6 took place. After the second impeachment failed. The legal scholars that proposed applying this civil war amendment to Trump knew it was a long shot. But that didn’t stop it from gaining momentum among the public at large. But everyone ignored section 5 which spelled out what needed to be done to enforce the 14th as applying it to Trump.
