Opinion: The Supreme Court could correct Mitch McConnell’s huge mistake

Opinion by Dean Obeidallah, CNN

(CNN) — Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him on Threads. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

The holiday season is filled with classic movies like “A Christmas Carol” that tell us we still have time to right the wrongs of the past. Well, now the US Supreme Court — even without a visit from the ghost of “Christmas yet to come” — has the chance to correct the wrongs of GOP senators like Mitch McConnell, who refused to convict former President Donald Trump during his January 6 impeachment trial.

The Supreme Court justices can do so by agreeing with the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent decision that found Trump engaged in an insurrection and was therefore “disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.” The US Supreme Court said Friday that it will hear arguments on the matter on February 8.

As a reminder, shortly after January 6, 2021, Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting an insurrection. That single article of impeachment — approved by 10 House Republicans along with all the Democrats in the lower chamber — specifically cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment as a reason to move forward with the proceedings.

While the Senate failed to reach the two-thirds threshold necessary to convict Trump, the vote did garner the support of a simple majority (57-43) that included seven Republicans. That means the majority of both chambers of Congress voted in favor of removing Trump from office given his role in the January 6 insurrection.

After the vote was tallied, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor to brutally slam Trump for his actions. He declared that on January 6, 2021, “American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of democratic business they did not like.” He then made it clear that Trump was to blame: “They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth – because he was angry he’d lost an election.”

McConnell added, “Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President (Mike) Pence was in danger, even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters, the president sent a further tweet attacking his vice president.”

The GOP Senate leader went on to call out Trump’s response during the attack, saying that “a mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name” and former aides and allies begged him to publicly call off the attack. “But the president did not act swiftly,” McConnell said. “Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily as the chaos unfolded. He kept pressing his scheme to overturn the election.”

However, despite those strong words, McConnell voted to acquit because Trump was already out of office at the time of the trial, and in the senator’s view, “We have no power to convict and disqualify a former officeholder who is now a private citizen.” If the Senate had convicted Trump instead, it could have barred him from running for federal office again.

Putting aside whether McConnell was correct from a constitutional point of view, the courts now have the power to “disqualify a former officeholder who is now a private citizen.” That is exactly what the Colorado Supreme Court did with their 4-3 ruling. As the court laid out, Trump’s goal with the insurrection, which “he himself conceived and set in motion,” was to “prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power.” And like McConnell, who pointed out that Trump did not act quickly to call an end to the insurrection, the Colorado Supreme Court noted Trump “continued to support it” with his tweet that day targeting Pence.

No one knows with any certainty what the US Supreme Court will rule in this case.

The justices have the opportunity to uphold the US Constitution by disqualifying Trump from serving in any office for his role in the January 6 insurrection, in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. And redressing these past wrongs would make them very much like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning.

This article has been updated with news of the US Supreme Court agreeing to hear an appeal of the Colorado court’s decision.

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