Trump v. Anderson
Writings on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment
Dear Subscribers, Dear Friends:
For the past six months I have been writing and speaking about Trump's disqualification from office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Here I provide the eight essays I have posted on Substack, as well as a discussion on NPR and the amicus brief I was honored to co-sign. Then I supply resources that helped me along the way.
Substack:
1. "Law or Fear: The Supreme Court Chooses," 7 February 2024. This one summarizes some of the others and goes into the deeper issues.
2. "Not Just Civil War: Insurrection and Trump's Ineligibility for Office," 5 February 2024.
3. "Constitutional Self-Defense: A Constitutional Tradition with Immediate Relevance," 19 January 2024.
4. "Constitutional Courage: How Our Fears Endanger our Future," 10 January 2024.
5. "Courting Ridicule: When Constitutionalism Becomes Comedy," 8 January 2024.
6. "The Pitchfork Ruling: The Trap the Commentariat Sets for the Court," 1 January 2024.
7. "Trump Cannot Run for Office (According to the U.S. Constitution)," 29 December 2023.
8. "We Can Have the Constitution (Or We can Have Trump)", 12 August 2023.
NPR and amicus brief:
"Should Trump be constitutionally barred from the presidency?" NPR, On Point, 5 February 2024. My part comes in at 29:00 on the audio and as part 3 of the transcript.
"Brief of Experts on Democracy" (Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Sheri Berman, Larry Diamond, Rachel Kleinfeld, Steven Levitsky, Timothy Snyder), 30 January 2024.
Other key resources (from which I have learned) include:
William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, "The Sweep and Force of Section Three," University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 14 August 2023.
"Brief for Professors Orville Vernon Burton…" 26 January 2024.
"Brief of American Historians," 29 January 2024.
Oral argument before the Supreme Court in the relevant matter, Trump v. Anderson, begins today. Please refer to these resources and please share this post with others. The whole discussion of Section 3 will now begin again from the beginning; I am hopeful that these posts can serve as indicators of arguments that have been raised and disputes that have been resolved these last six months.
Timothy Snyder
8 February 2024
Thank you Professor Snyder. Your sharing of research and resources make us informed and smarter. You are my trusted source for what is happening here and abroad. I’ve learned much from your books, writings, and your Ukraine class via YouTube. Bravo you.
I strongly suspect that as Antonin Scalia played with words instead of original intentions in the Heller decision, which has made our lives so much more dangerous, the present Court will do so again in this case, with the potential for the same. I do hope I'm mistaken.