2024 Presidential Candidates
In light of recent news regarding former President Donald Trump, many people are wondering the same question: Can he still run for President?
Technically, our constitution does not give many specific requirements to be able to run for president.
The Constitution lists three conditions:
1. Be a natural-born citizen of the United States
2. Be at least 35 years old
3. Have been a resident of the United States for at least 14 years
Donald Trump still technically qualifies to run for President based on these three rules. Although he meets the technical requirements, we have not had a situation like this in the past it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. Donald Trump is the first (former or current) president to be charged with criminal activity.
However! Donald Trump is not our only Presidential candidate for the upcoming Presidential Election in 2024. There are many candidates (who have not been arrested recently) from all parties that are worth looking into. Ballotpedia has a great page for all of the current 2024 candidates. By clicking the website name it will take you to this page where you can read about all potential candidates as well as notable ones from individual parties. It is important for us as the younger generation to educate ourselves on our prospective presidents!
By researching those who plan to run you can gain a sense of their goals and policies. This will help you be confident in who you vote for when the time comes in 2024.
There are arguments being made that former President Trump may not be eligible for re-lection based on the 14th Amendment of the Constitution which "bars from office anyone who once took an oath to uphold the Constitution but then “engaged” in “insurrection or rebellion” against it." (RICCARDI 2023). Although the clause was written to prevent post-Civil War leaders from holding office, there are numerous legal scholars who are arguing that this would apply to Trump after his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the incident at the U.S. Capitol.
ReplyDeleteLast week during the Republican Debate Govenor Asa Huchinson also referenced the 14th Article to stop his nomination by the Republican National Convention (Fortinsky 2023). It will be extremely interesting to see how this all plays out.
Citations:
Fortinsky, Sarah. 2023. “Hutchinson Says Trump May Not Qualify to Be President, Citing 14th Amendment.” The Hill. August 20, 2023. https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/4160866-hutchinson-says-trump-may-not-qualify-to-be-president-citing-14th-amendment/.
RICCARDI, Nicholas. 2023. “Liberal Groups Seek to Use the Constitution’s Insurrection Clause to Block Trump from 2024 Ballots.” AP News. August 31, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/trump-14th-amendment-insurrection-2024-election-ballot-9c5f79203109ba221b35a48e708ad725.