In our less than perfect democracy, who will choose the next president: state election officials, the courts or the people? Ironically, many of the same people who warn that if former President Donald Trump is reelected he will destroy our democracy as we know it, still pin their hopes on an obscure provision of the Constitution that would bar him from ballot access in the states.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, known as the “Disqualification Clause,” provides that anyone who has previously sworn to uphold the Constitution and who subsequently has engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S., may not hold certain state or federal offices. The clause also provides that the Congress can remove that disability by a two-thirds vote of both chambers.

The 14th Amendment was adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War in 1868 as a Reconstruction era measure. The disqualification clause was only in full effect for a brief period as its enforcement was repealed for most Confederates and their sympathizers with enactment of the Amnesty Act of 1872.

Two issues swirling around the Trump candidacy are: (1) whether the disqualification from holding office must be based on a conviction for engaging in insurrection; and, (2) whether the........

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