Mark Graber, professor of government and law at Maryland Carey School of Law, will speak on how the Supreme Court in Trump v. Anderson interpreted the constitutional processes for implementing disqualification from national office set out in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment through the lens of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, which the court described as restricting state autonomy. This paper interprets the constitutional processes for implement disqualification from national office through the lens of Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which reconstructs both state and federal governments. Section Two was to the framers the most important provision of the Fourteenth Amendment. That amendment sought to create trustworthy state governments with an even more trustworthy federal government as a backup. Under Sections 2-3, states have the power to disqualify candidates for federal office, subject to a judicial check. A judicial check is appropriate only when states have violated the substance of Section 3 and Congress has abdicated its constitutional role.

This lecture is part of Nebraska Law’s Law and Democracy Series, provided by generous support from Barb and Ron Schaefer.

To register, visit https://go.unl.edu/fourteenth2024.

Students, please use SharePoint to RSVP.

This event is approved for 1.0 continuing education credit (including 1.0 credit of ethics) in Nebraska.