“The First Amendment gives people a lot of protections to protest, to speak out. Courts are going to be pretty hesitant to say where that crosses the line into an insurrection unless it’s clearly violent or provoking violence.” Raymond La Raja, Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of the UMass Amherst Poll, is quoted in a news article analyzing whether former president Donald Trump can be excluded from the 2024 ballot due to the 14th Amendment. The core of the discussion is the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which says no person shall hold office in the United States who took an oath to support the Constitution, then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the [Constitution].” The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 amid Reconstruction after the Civil War. That section was intended to prevent Confederate leaders from regaining political power. (CommonWealth. 07/2022)