Whether you are a conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, Independent or Libertarian, if you value the principles and institutions that are the living heart of American democracy, please add your name to the following petition. This petition will be submitted to the Secretary of State of every state in the United States, urging them to honor Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to United States Constitution by excluding Donald Trump’s name from appearing on their state’s 2024 Presidential election ballot, thereby demonstrating their commitment to safeguarding the future of democracy in our country.

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TO: the Secretary of State of Every State in the Nation

As concerned citizens and firm believers in upholding the principles of democracy, we urge you, as Secretary of State, to fulfill your sworn duty to protect our Constitution by declining to list Donald J. Trump on the 2024 Presidential Election ballot in accordance with Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to United States Constitution.

Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment states: “No person shall . . . hold any office . . . who, having previously taken an oath . . . 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 enemies thereof.” The meaning of this sentence is unambiguous: any government official who ever swore to support the Constitution and later “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution or “gave aid and comfort to the enemies” of the Constitution are automatically disqualified from holding any governmental office and therefore cannot be listed on ballots for any elected office ever again.

Donald J. Trump violated his Presidential inaugural oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” by engaging in the following activities, and he is thereby disqualified under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment from ever holding office again: (1) claiming on December 3, 2022, that “a massive fraud” related to the 2020 election was so serious that it “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution”; (2) directing a conspiracy to submit slates of false electors to the United States Congress; (3) imploring and threatening federal and state officials and local election workers to assist in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election; (4) inciting a violent attack on the U.S Capitol on January 6, 2021, with the aim of preventing Congress from completing its constitutional duty to count the electoral votes submitted by the states; and (5) giving aid and comfort to the violent mob who had stormed the Capitol on January 6 by failing to take any action to stop the attack for more than three hours after the violence had begun and then issuing a video in which he told the attackers, “We love you. You’re very special.”

J. Michael Luttig, a former federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit who has been called “perhaps the most conservative judge in the country,” and Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, have written, “The former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and the resulting attack on the U.S. Capitol, place him squarely within the ambit of the [Fourteenth Amendment’s] disqualification clause, and he is therefore ineligible to serve as president ever again. The most pressing constitutional question facing our country at this moment, then, is whether we will abide by this clear command of the Fourteenth Amendment’s disqualification clause.”[1]

Luttig and Tribe cite an article by esteemed constitutional scholars William Baude, Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, and Michael Stokes Paulsen, Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, in which they write, “Section Three is self-executing, operating as an immediate disqualification from office, without the need for additional action by Congress. It can and should be enforced by every official, state or federal, who judges qualifications.”[2] 

The United States Constitution grants state Secretaries of State the authority and responsibility to ensure fair and secure elections. In this role, one of your fundamental duties is to judge the qualifications of candidates who apply to be included on election ballots distributed in your state. By declining to list Donald J. Trump on the 2024 Presidential Election ballot, you will be exercising your constitutional duty to safeguard our democratic process in accordance with the Fourteenth Amendment’s disqualification clause.

We therefore urge you to uphold your sworn duty by rejecting any application from Donald J. Trump to appear on ballots in your state as a candidate for President of the United States in 2024 or at any time in the future.

 [1] Luttig, J. Michael, and Tribe, Laurence H., “The Constitution Prohibits Trump from Ever Being President Again.” The Atlantic, August 19, 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/donald-trump-constitutionally-prohibited-presidency/675048/
[2] Baude, William, and Paulsen, Michael Stokes, "The Sweep and Force of Section Three." University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 172, August 23, 2023. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4532751