Balkinization  

Sunday, January 10, 2021

An Alternative to Impeachment

Gerard N. Magliocca

Congress could pass a Joint Resolution stating its belief that the President is now ineligible to serve pursuant to Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. This resolution would not remove the President from office, but would accomplish several important objectives.

1. This would be a formal rebuke to the President's actions that would avoid the complications involved in an impeachment trial.

2. Such a Joint Resolution would probably draw more support than an impeachment.

3. This Joint Resolution would lay the predicate for a court challenge to any effort by the President to seek office again. (And, perhaps, to any actions that he may take between now and January 20). Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment is justiciable (unlike impeachments). Thus, Congress saying that someone is ineligible to be President does not make that person ineligible. But it is persuasive authority that a court could use to reach that conclusion.

I urge Congress to consider the Section Three option.  


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