Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) suggested in a Thursday interview that the 14th Amendment should not apply in any modern situations, as he railed against the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to block former President Trump from seeking public office.
In a radio interview on “Cats & Cosby,” Gingrich made the case that the 14th Amendment only applied to situations related to the Civil War, pointing to the fact that the text of the Constitution never “references anybody today.”
“The 14th Amendment referred to, basically, people who had risen in rebellion and fought a war for four years. There’s no point at which it references anybody today,” Gingrich said.
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Gingrich’s remarks come amid fierce backlash among many conservative public officials to the ruling, which determined Trump was ineligible to hold public office again because of his involvement in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The ruling — which Trump has pledged to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court — cites Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that former public officials are ineligible to hold public office again if, “having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States,” they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Gingrich further made the case that the section did not apply because, he noted, Trump has not been charged with inciting an insurrection.
“No one has charged Donald Trump with insurrection because you can’t. Because an insurrection is a unique and classifiable thing,” he said.
Gingrich also attacked the Colorado Supreme Court justices, saying, “These guys aren’t judges. These people are thugs, who have replaced the rule of law with the rule of power.”