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Challenging Corruption

Actions across the country from July 9th to July 15th highlight Trump’s ineligibility under the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 10, 2023) – Free Speech For People and MiFamilia Vota on Sunday launched a week of action to urge election officials across the country to bar Donald Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, also known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.

The Week of Action, taking place between July 9th and July 15th, marks the 155th anniversary of the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. Events include rallies outside offices for Secretaries of State and other election officials, as well as banner drops for added visibility. The effort recently gained national press for the unprecedented move to disqualify a former president from the ballot.

Enacted in the wake of the Civil War, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment bars from public office any individual who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then engages in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or gives aid or comfort to those who have.

On January 6, 2021, former President Donald Trump incited hundreds of violent insurrectionists to storm the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. As a result, five people died and more than 140 officers were injured. Over 1,000 people have since been convicted of crimes related to the attack, whom Trump has promised to pardon if reelected.

“Trump is responsible for the January 6th insurrection, plain and simple,” said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Campaign Director for Free Speech For People. “Failing to hold him responsible not only violates the Constitution, but it also sets a dangerous precedent for permitting violent attacks on our democracy. That’s not a risk we can afford to take.”

Trump has recently been indicted for two other major offenses. He faces a criminal trial in March 2024 for falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels just prior to the 2016 election. An indictment by the Department of Justice in June 2023 charged Trump with theft of national defense secrets and obstruction of justice in connection to documents found in his Mar-a-Lago residence.

“While the US Justice Department, along with state and local authorities, must hold Donald Trump accountable for all crimes that he has committed, secretaries of state and chief election officials across the country must carry out their responsibility to follow the mandate of the Constitution and the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause and bar Trump from any future ballot,” said Free Speech For People President John Bonifaz. “Criminal prosecutions will establish Trump’s liability under the law. But the enforcement of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Trump will ensure that our republic is protected and that this insurrectionist-in-chief is forever disqualified from holding any future public office.”

Free Speech For People has called for applying the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause to Donald Trump since January 2021. The organization, in partnership with Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, launched the Trump is Disqualified campaign following Trump’s announcement of his 2024 presidential bid this past November. Click here for more information on the campaign.