Donald Trump intends to stand for the US presidency come what may, even if he has been convicted of serious political charges. But, could he be stopped by a provision in the US constitution?
Michael Zander KC, NLJ columnist & Emeritus Professor, LSE, investigates this scenario in a fascinating article in this week’s issue.
The events that could scupper the Trump campaign are those of 6 January 2020 when a mob invaded the Capitol Building in Washington, DC seeking to prevent Congress from counting the Electoral College votes in order to formalise the victory of Joe Biden. Could Trump’s encouragement of this amount to engaging in ‘insurrection or rebellion’ against the constitution? If lawyers can convince the Supreme Court of this then Trump’s campaign might never leave the gates.
Professor Zander looks at the possibility for such a case, referring to a 126-page article on the same penned by two ‘originalist’ legal scholars, and the political implications should such a case go ahead. Truly, real life is sometimes stranger than fiction.
