Duff bypasses due process with insurrection bill.

State Senator Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) has sponsored a bill punishing participation in rebellion or insurrection. The purpose of the bill is to deem “state and municipal office holders who engage in rebellion or insurrection shall be permanently ineligible to be elected or appointed to any state or municipal office or to serve in the armed forces of the state in the future….” The proposal also bars “persons convicted of sedition, rebellion or insurrection, or a felony in relation to such act” from being employed by the state or any municipality.

The crucial missing piece is who determines if an office holder has engaged in a rebellion of insurrection and what standard will be applied to the accused. Must ineligibility be preceded by a conviction? Will a video recording suffice? The law provides little help.

The Duff proposal is, according to the Democrat’s testimony submitted to the Government Administration and Elections Committee, is modeled on the Disqualification Clause found in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Congressional Research Service points out in a memorandum updated in September that “[d]etermining who has engaged in either of the two disqualifying activities—that is, engaging in insurrection or rebellion or giving aid or comfort to an enemy—is likely to be a difficult task given the scarcity of precedents and lack of clear definitions.”

The memorandum continues, “Once an insurrection is deemed to have occurred, the question becomes whether a specific person engaged in it. Section 3 does not establish a procedure for determining who is subject to the proscription on holding office, instead providing only a process by which the disability may be removed (i.e., by two- thirds vote in both houses).”

Duff’s proposal provides ideal fodder for his twitter habit, but it would add only confusion as a Connecticut law. The response to attacks on the rule of law should not be to retreat from the rule of law, especially in the Constitution State.

Published April 17, 2023.