Even if Trump wins, a Democratic congress could stop him [View all]

[Shrek]

Not posting a link because this legal analysis came from a National Review piece. But I believe the snip below is within community standards:

Under the 20th Amendment, sessions of Congress begin biannually on January 3; the joint session on January 6, 2025, will thus feature the newly elected House members and senators (along with the two-thirds of incumbent senators who did not face election in 2024). There will be two historic elements of the coming January 6 joint session — one potentially perilous for Trump, and one that favors him, ironically so given that it is a legislative change spawned by his soft-coup attempt that culminated in the Capitol riot at the last post-election joint session.

The potential peril is a Democratic effort to invoke §3 of the 14th Amendment with the objective of formally branding Trump an insurrectionist who is ineligible to serve as president. Recall that when Democrats in Colorado and Maine tried to remove Trump from the ballot under §3, the Supreme Court held in its Trump v. Anderson decision last March that the states lack such authority. Congress, however, may enact legislation under §5 of the amendment to enforce the §3 disqualification.

If Senate Democrats were to do away with the filibuster, they might be able to join a Democrat-controlled House in enacting a §3 procedure — signed into law by President Biden — that would enable them to brand Trump a disqualified insurrectionist. Of course, there wouldn’t be much time for that between January 3 and January 6. Assuming they can’t enact a §3 statute before January 6, they could try to invoke §3 at the joint session without having enacted a procedural statute; if they have the necessary majority — which would be no sure thing — they could vote to find Trump an insurrectionist and decline to ratify the state-certified electoral votes on that basis.

(Emphasis added)

I hadn't considered this possibility, but apparently winning congress opens up possibilities even if Trump manages to eke out a victory.