For Immediate Release
Contact: David Reinbold, dreinbold@americanhumanist.org
(Washington, D.C., March 4, 2024) — Today, the American Humanist Association (AHA) is reaffirming its steadfast support of democracy by condemning in the strongest possible terms the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Anderson.
AHA Board President Sunil Panikkath said, “The intent of the gratuitously broad opinion of the White Christian Nationalist majority on the Court in Trump v. Anderson is crystal clear. First, they want to preemptively insulate any insurrectionist Presidential candidate from being disqualified during the electoral vote process by Congress through the opinion’s wholly unsupported claim that only legislation can disqualify a candidate. Second, they want to preemptively empower federal courts to dismiss any disqualification attempts on January 6 insurrectionists by applying the opinion’s claim that only Congressional legislation can disqualify and therefore federal courts cannot act in the absence of such legislation. Third, they want to enable future insurrectionists to feel they have immunity from disqualification if they take actions against the democratic nature of the republic, since future Congressional legislation is all but impossible in the current political climate.”
The events that unfolded at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were a direct attack on democracy. Many of us watched in horror and disbelief as these events played out in real time. We remember appeals from the White House encouraging supporters to “fight like hell” and inflaming rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol, violating the oath of office of federal officeholders in an effort to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.
Inciting insurrection to stay in power severely undermines democracy – adhering to the Constitution is not optional. Federal officeholders, including Presidents, swear an oath to defend our Constitution and any person who breaks that oath with insurrection should not be on the ballot. By ruling that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment requires implementing legislation from Congress, the Court curtails the nation’s ability to hold insurrectionists accountable.
”It is a discouraging day for American democracy,” said AHA Legal and Policy Director Lily Bolourian. “The insurrection that federal officeholders inspired and emboldened on January 6th was not only an attack on free and fair elections, it was a violent attack on all of our institutions, on democracy, and on the rights of every citizen of this nation. Our democracy cannot survive without basic accountability and keeping anyone who aids and abets insurrection upon the United States off of the ballot is exactly that.”
AHA Senior Counsel, Katie McKerall agreed saying, “With today’s decision, the Supreme Court limits the Fourteenth Amendment’s ability to protect democracy from those that seek to destroy it. By ruling that Section 3 requires implementing legislation, the Court has gone beyond the question at issue in this case, abandoned judicial restraint, and circumscribed the nation’s ability to bar any oathbreaking insurrectionist from holding the highest office in the land.”
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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.