Democrat who led Trump impeachment pledges legislation in response to Supreme Court ballot ruling

Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who led the second impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump, pledged to work on legislation that would set up a process for Congress to determine who cannot run for office under the 14th Amendment's "insurrection" clause.

Raskin spoke about the legislation Monday on CNN hours after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Trump can remain on the 2024 presidential ballot in response to a case in Colorado, where the state supreme court ruled that Trump was ineligible under the 14th Amendment for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.  

Raskin said: "I am working with a number of my colleagues, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Eric Swalwell to revive legislation that we had to set up a process by which we could determine that someone who committed insurrection is disqualified by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment," which contains the insurrection clause.

Wasserman Schultz only voted to impeach Trump in 2021, while Swalwell was an impeachment manager. Raskin and Wasserman Schultz cosponsored legislation in 2022 that would have established a process to disqualify a candidate under the 14th Amendment.

Raskin told Axios on Monday he is revising the 2022 bill following the Supreme Court's decision. "I'm working on it — today," he said.

The Supreme Court had ruled that "the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, on its face, does not affirmatively delegate such a power to the States," and that the "Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates."

Raskin noted: "The House of Representatives already impeached Donald Trump for participating in insurrection by inciting it."

Trump was ultimately impeached in the House but acquitted by the Senate.

Raskin said that now "the question is whether Speaker Mike Johnson would allow us to bring this to the floor of the House," which seems unlikely in the Republican-controlled chamber. 

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