CONNALLY: Could Jim Jordan Be Barred from Holding Office?

This week, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, aka “Jacketless Jim,” announced that he will not  testify before the House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021.  He says he has nothing to hide. While I am no fan of the pro-Trump – right-wing – Republican who has served Ohio’s 4^th Congressional District since 2007, I recognize the wisdom of his decision.  Silence is probably a wise move – a lot wiser than some of the things he did leading up to  January 6, 2021.

In the final analysis, what he did and said on or about January 6 could have long term implications for him and his political future. While his conduct will win great support among those in the Trump base, the same acts could be used as a tool to put nails in his political coffin or, alternatively, cost him a great deal of money to defend himself against legal attacks on his qualifications to hold office.  The tool in question is a largely overlooked section of the 14^thAmendment to the United States Constitution, written in 1868 by another Ohio Republican Congressman, John Bingham.

In  the wake of the Civil War, members of congress and the public were concerned about former Confederates returning to public office on both the state and federal level. As a result, Bingham, a staunch abolitionist and supporter of Abraham Lincoln, who by all accounts wrote most of the 14^th Amendment, added a provision that would disqualify anyone from holding office who had taken an oath  to support the Constitution and subsequently engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or gave aid or comfort to its enemies.

Since the provision has only been invoked once since the post-Civil War era  there is little precedence as to its applicability. So, the question becomes, could this apply to Jordan?Let’s look at the facts.

The New York Times reported this past summer that Jordan participated in a meeting at the White House two weeks before the January 6 attack, at which he is alleged to have plotted with Trump and his allies as how best to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election and keep Trump in power. In December, it was revealed that Jordan forwarded messages to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows detailing obscure legal theories on how former Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the results of the election, thereby overturning the vote of the people of the United States.

Clearly, as a congressman, Jordan has taken an oath to support the Constitution. But  once past that hurdle, the question is whether his conduct amounted to  participating in an insurrection or rebellion. It can be argued that Jordan participated in planning to prevent the duly elected president from assuming office and thereby attempted to impede the orderly transfer of government, which could be considered insurrection. The question will come down to what did they did to impede the legal process of certifying the election and what was their involvement in or instigation of  the rioters. It should be added that Jordan joined 47 other congressman who voted not to certify the election of Joe Biden to the office of the presidency.

Although this scenario may seem farfetched, 11 voters in the North Carolina congressional district of Congressman Madison Cawthorn have filed suit to challenge his ability to run for office and  continue to represent North Carolina’s 11^th congressional district, a seat he has held since 2021. The disgruntled voters base their cause of action on the Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment.

The suit alleges that Cawthorn, who took an oath to support the Constitution when he was sworn into Congress, is disqualified from seeking re-election by virtue of engaging in an insurrection or rebellion, namely his involvement in the January 6, 2021 “Save America Rally.” At that rally he made baseless claims that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump. The suit goes on to say that his  comments fired up the crowd at the rally, many of whom stormed the Capital — causing an insurrection that resulted in the deaths of five people.

Frankly, it’s a long stretch, but as the plot thickens as to how far Trump and his allies were willing to go the maintain power and how much control or influence Trump and his allies had over the rioters, the closer you get to insurrection and rebellion.

That’s why Jordan is wise to exercise the same lack of memory he has used for years when it comes to allegations of his involvement in the sex scandal involving the Ohio State men’s wrestling team.

Jordan’s involvement or lack thereof in the Ohio State scandal centers on allegations of misconduct by Richard Strauss who was employed as a physician by the Ohio State University from 1978 to 1998. From 1986 to 1994 Jordan was employed as an assistant coach. In 2018 former members of the wrestling team accused former head coach Russ Hellickson and Jordan of having knowledge of the abuse, which the accusers allege was widely known among team members and staff. Although Jordan has never been charged with any offense in connection with these allegations, at least five people — four of them former wrestlers and one of them a longtime friend — said Jordan had to have known about Strauss’s misdeeds. According to the Oct. 21, 2019 Ohio State News, Strauss engaged in 1,429 sexual assaults and 47 rapes of students during his time at the school prior to his suicide in 2005. But according to Jordan, he  saw nothing. In 2020, the university entered into a settlement agreement with former team members and agreed to pay $40.9 million to the sexual abuse survivors.

It will be interesting to see how the cause of action against Cawthorn proceeds. Win or lose, those questioning Cawthorn’s ability to serve are giving fair warning to other elected officials. There are consequences for your acts when engaging in conduct that looks like an attempt to overthrow our democracy, which seems more and more fragile every day. If the courts of North Carolina find Congressman Cawthorn unqualified to serve based on this obscure constitutional provision, then Jim Jordan had better start lawyering up. The cases against him will surely follow. And he can thank his fellow Ohio Republican, John Bingham.

For further information on Jordan’s Congressional District — known as the “duck district” because of its gerrymandered shape, go here. For further information on Jordan go here.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Section 3:  No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer or any State, 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. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.

 

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