Letters to the Editor: Newsom ignores the Constitution by keeping Trump on the ballot

To the editor: Nothing in Mark Z. Barabak’s column relates to the question of whether Donald Trump has a right to run for president in 2024. Barabak focuses solely on political issues, which are irrelevant, and ignores the legal ones, which are relevant — and controlling here. (“Newsom loves Trump? Not at all. But he made the right call on ballot access,” Dec. 28)

The issue isn’t about voter choice; it’s about whether a candidate meets specific constitutional requirements for running for president. Candidates who don’t satisfy constitutional eligibility requirements must not appear on the ballot.

Barabak takes a cheap shot at Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who supports Trump’s disqualification, as if the basis of her thinking can only be attributed to political opportunism rather than sound legal reasoning. And he conveniently ignores rigorous legal analysis by conservatives, including former federal judge J. Michael Luttig and attorney George Conway, not to mention Laurence Tribe, a preeminent constitutional scholar.

If someone wanted to run for president who’s younger than 35, which also doesn’t satisfy constitutional requirements, would Barabak say that candidate should be included on the ballot, so as to let voters decide? Of course not. Then how can he and Gov. Gavin Newsom credibly argue that Trump belongs on the ballot?

The proper democratic outcome is that Trump be excluded from the ballot, because that’s what the 14th Amendment requires for those who swore an oath to defend the Constitution but engaged in insurrection.

Todd Piccus, Venice

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To the editor: Former President Trump has not been convicted of insurrection. He has not even been charged with insurrection. He was impeached by the House for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, but he was not convicted by the Senate.

Yet, in Maine there is one partisan Democratic official, the secretary of state, acting as judge and jury in deciding to remove the former president from that state’s ballot.

Democrats assert that Trump is a threat to democracy. Yet, it’s just fine to allow one partisan Democrat to limit the choices of hundreds of thousands of voters. Talk about rigging an election.

The country is nearing a breaking point, and there is only one way to stop this madness in its tracks: a quick, 9-0 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court deeming the Colorado and Maine actions unlawful.

William R. Fado, Pacific Palisades

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To the editor: There is a history of wrong calls being made in holding Trump accountable for breaking the law.

First, Congress made the wrong call by not removing him in early 2020 for attempted election interference, then it chickened out by not removing him for trying to overturn the election in early 2021.

Keeping Trump on the ballot would be the wrong call by Newsom if there was even a sliver of a chance that Trump could win California.

The judicial system cannot chicken out by kicking the can down the road or shrug off his criminal acts with, “So what? He’s going to lose anyway.” All eight of the Colorado judges (including the trial judge) who heard the case on ballot disqualification agreed that Trump is an insurrectionist; they just did not all agree on who could remove him from the ballot. Now, they are getting death threats.

The courts must protect our voters and public servants by barring Trump from the ballot and convicting him where necessary.

Fiona Carroll, Mission Viejo

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To the editor: Congress could put an end to all the controversy over Trump’s status to run for the presidency by simply taking a vote to make him eligible again. It only takes a two-thirds majority.

June Thompson, Los Angeles