Constitutional Law Professors Josh Blackman and Seth Barrett Tillman have published a scholarly paper that argues that the 14th amendment, section 3, does not apply to presidents or to candidates for president.  Use this link to see the paper.  The title is “Sweeping and forcing the President Into Section 3.”

Section 3 says, “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enmies thereof.”

Among other points, the article says that common word usage in the 19th century makes it clear that “any office” refers to appointed positions, not elected positions.  Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

At Reason, Steven Calabresi summarizes the points in the article and says he agrees.

On September 13, the National Republican Redistricting Trust filed this amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, in Allen v Milligan, 23A231.  This is the lawsuit over the Alabama U.S. House districting plan.  The Republican Trust wants the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the decision of the 3-judge U.S. Disrict Court that had ordered new districts earlier this month.

The brief of the Alabama voters who had filed the lawsuit is due September 19.

The No Labels Party is continuing to register voters as party members, in the party’s quest to have at least 5,000 registered members by January 2024.  See this story.  The party’s canvassers now wear T-shirts making it clear they are asking people to join their party.

The story says the party has added 454 new members in September, so they now have 6,609, even after the Secretary of State subtracted about 800 members.