Washington, DC – U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) released the following statement in response to Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether Donald Trump could be barred from the Colorado presidential ballot:

“The Supreme Court held that states cannot block insurrectionists from running for federal office unless Congress has acted first to identify and disqualify them under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although this ruling departs from the plain text and original purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment, the good news is that the Supreme Court never challenged the Colorado Supreme Court’s factual finding that Donald Trump had participated in the insurrection that took place on January 6, 2021.

“While we question the Court’s flight from the plain meaning of the Constitutional language and from the plain facts of the case, as well as its odd refusal to say what the law is, we are working now to revise our previous bill to provide the closely tailored enabling legislation that the Court is now requiring. Our bill affirms the constitutional directive that anyone who swears to protect the Constitution but violates that oath by engaging in insurrection or rebellion can never serve again in federal or state office. It then provides a federal judicial process to determine whether a defendant is in fact an insurrectionist, making available both Attorney General actions for declaratory and injunctive relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and corresponding private rights of action there too.

“Some 17 Senate and House Republicans previously voted with bipartisan and bicameral majorities in Congress (232-197 to impeach in the House, 57-43 to convict in the Senate) to determine that Donald Trump had incited an insurrection against the Constitution. We remain hopeful that there will be another significant bloc of Republicans who will join Democrats in voting to adopt a plan for adjudication of insurrectionism in the federal courts so the clear and compelling constitutional purposes can be vindicated.

“Because the Supreme Court has not provided any other way to settle the disqualification of an insurrectionist prior to the casting and counting of Electoral College votes, Congress must now develop a judicial mechanism for ascertaining such persons and Speaker Johnson must permit the House of Representatives to vote on it. If not, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment could simply be rendered a dead letter or a dangerous flashpoint as applied to federal officeholders.”

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