Missouri introduces ‘Donald Trump’ bill making it legal for felons to run for office
Missouri introduces ‘Donald Trump’ bill making it legal for felons to run for office
New legislation would repeal a 2015 law that prevents those who were found guilty or pleaded guilty to a felony from running for local or statewide office
Summary
Missouri state Representative Michael Davis has introduced the “Donald J. Trump Election Qualification Act,” a bill allowing individuals convicted of felonies to run for public office if otherwise qualified.
The legislation, named after Donald Trump, seeks to repeal a 2015 state law barring felons from candidacy in local or statewide elections.
Davis argues the law should align with Trump’s election as president despite his 34 felony convictions in New York.
He advocates for reintegration of felons into society, emphasizing their rights as citizens to participate in government and elections.
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Wait a minute, if that 2015 law stands, how come Trump was on the presidential ballot in MO? He is a convicted felon.
I mean, the constitution clearly excludes Trump from being president due to his insurrection coup. But the Supreme Court is a bunch of hacks and laws don’t matter.
Things that make one go “hmm?”
It applied to local and state offices but apparently not federal.
Nope, that's not it:
No person shall qualify as a candidate for elective public office in the state of Missouri who has been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony under the federal laws of the United States of America or to a felony under the laws of this state or an offense committed in another state that would be considered a felony in this state.
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=115.306&bid=34682
"Candidate for elective public office in the state of Missouri" could be read either as can't be a candidate on the ballot in Missouri or can't be a candidate for a state position. It depends on if it means [candidate for public office] in Missouri or candidate for [public office in Missouri].
I don't like how laws are always written very formally like that, I feel like English (or any language tbh) is able to be misinterpreted easily enough as is, and the stilted way it's used in legal speak just leads to questions and misunderstandings like this. I'd much rather they be written as plainly as is possible and in ways that attempted to remove ambiguity instead of add it, though a lot of the time that's the point I imagine lol.
You do realize that it is in legal speak for the exact reason you're saying that it shouldn't be, right? There are people who study law their entire lives, and it's literally their job to argue about how these words are interpreted. They're not for you and I to easily parse. If they were, they'd be way more broken and filled with even more stupid loopholes.
Almost as if this is something that we've honed over thousands of years of experience with human behavior and not just completely arbitrary.
With regards to the words "in the state of missouri" they likely conveniently interpretted it as running for an elected office that directly oversees missouri such as sherrifs, judges, state senators etc rather than a position that isnt within the jurisdiction of the state.
Trump was charged under New York law so it didn't really apply to him (in Misery)
... or an offense committed in another state that would be considered a felony in this state.
Are Trumps New York felonies Missouri Felonies?
I'd bet nobody ever bothered checking.
Wealthy landowners with practical impunity wrote that to stop vagabonds from challenging their power