Professor Magliocca Testifies in Candidacy Challenge Hearing
04/22/2022
IU McKinney Professor Gerard Magliocca testified in Atlanta, Georgia on April 22 during a hearing that could deny a member of Congress the right to run for reelection.
U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is accused by voters in the district she represents of helping facilitate the January 6, 2021, insurrection that disrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election. The voters allege this makes her ineligible for reelection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says members of Congress cannot engage “in insurrection or rebellion.”
Professor Magliocca was called upon to provide the court with historical background on insurrections in the United State. U.S. Representative Greene then provided testimony.
The entire proceeding was broadcast by CSPAN. Professor Magliocca's testimony begins at the 57:20 mark.
Professor Magliocca worked with voters who raised a challenge to U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn’s reelection on the same grounds Greene is facing. He talked with NPR in February about that effort. A federal court ruled against the voters in March, finding that a Civil War amnesty law passed by Congress in 1872 essentially repealed the 14th Amendment’s “disqualification clause,” which prohibited officeholders from returning to elected position if they supported insurrection, but also said Congress could remove that disability with a two-thirds vote. Professor Magliocca talked with CNN about that ruling.
"The ruling will be reversed on appeal," Professor Magliocca said. "There are many problems with the argument that the 1872 law conferred amnesty onto all people forever who would engage in insurrection against the US Constitution. That's not what it says. And nobody at the time thought that is what the law would do. Not a single person."
Professor Magliocca is a Samuel R. Rosen Professor of Law at IU McKinney and a nationally known expert in constitutional law. He is the author of five books, the latest of which, Washington’s Heir: The Life of Bushrod Washington, was published by Oxford University Press in early 2022. He also is the author of over 20 articles on constitutional law and intellectual property.
