> I truly think the USSC, (if not the trial/appellate court/s), would have to struggle with the fact that the impeachment articles were specifically “insurrection” for which he was found not guilty. The way I read the 14th amendment on disqualification it requires a conviction. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
well if the impeachment articles were viewed as dismissed counts I1C1..CN1 and I2C1..CN2, then anything new would become a new count, but would not per the essay originate from a conviction in an impeachment trial. it would presumably originate from a decision from a civil court.
however it seems at least to me that there would need to be a formal legal definition of insurrection within a civil court jurisdiction. they might for example be relying on a lack of formal definition of insurrection in civil jurisdiction, and they would just go ahead and come up with an ad hoc definition which would of course be tailored to nail trump on a technicality (eg a process violation of some sort). in addition all the formal requirements of a complaint would need to be met, and be able to withstand challenges to standing in a preliminary motion. i am not a lawyer and this is probably the deep end of the pool for me, so YMMV as far as any of my suppositions go.
I would love to read Jonathan Turley’s or Eugene Volokh’s view on the possibility of using the civil court to rule Trump guilty of insurrection. So far the attempts to disqualify congress members by using the 14th amendment article have been thrown out by the courts, (and one Bureau of Elections), as not having a basis in law. My reading of those cases was that there would need to be a trial with a conviction or civil ruling declaring the defendant to have been engaged in insurrection before disqualification could possibly occur. So far no one has attempted to take “the insurrectionist” to court for the crime of insurrection, or for a civil case of insurrection.
I also can not see who would have standing for a civil case and no DA would get past the motion to dismiss if they tried to bring a criminal case, which would have to be filed in D.C. I kinda would like to see someone try to file such a suit/indictment so that the courts will have to shut it down, with prejudice.