hey, everyone. it s 4:00 in new york. i m in for nicole wallace. special counsel jack smith is a prosecutor that stays out of the spotlight. he prefers to speak through his fiings. that s why his laltest brief in the federal election case merits our attention. over the weekend, the justice department responded to trump s claims that he is immune from prosecution. what he did was within the scope of his duties as president of the united states. it s an argument that trump was taking to the courts in order to get the whole election case dismissed. the special counsel is speaking to the court. let s be honest. he s also speaking to any of us who care about the health of our democracy. prosecutors acknowledge the fact we re dealing with an unprecedented situation. for the first time in our nation s history, a grand jury charged a former president of committing crimes while in office to overturn an election he lost. in response the defendant claims to protect the institution of th
senator peter van winkle, west virginia, argued that this should look beyond the civil war. quote, this is to go into our constitution and to stand to govern future insurrection as well as the present. and i should like to have that point definitely understood. so now, in this new year, in this presidential year, where the stakes for our democracy are at a critical inflection point, we wait to hear what the supreme court of the united states will decide. and that is where we start this hour with former u.s. attorney author of the forge coming back attack from within, co-host of the sisters in law podcast barbara mcquaid. princeton university professor and distinguished political scholar, eddie glod. and columnist for the boston globe, kimberly atkins store. i want to talk timing. last week we saw an appeal by the colorado republican party, which put into effect the stay
the forms of disqualification we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic because it is the one where people choose themselves to be disqualified. in terms of your age, or where you were born, that s not up to you. but donald trump is in that tiny number of people who essentially disqualified themselves. different states interpreted section three in different ways. he seen a patchwork build across the country with differrulings, putting more and more pressure on the supreme court to ultimately decide ump s eligibility. in the ongoing quest to interpret section three, abc news has taken a look into what the authorize of the amendment truly meant, by looking at their own words. they viewed transcripts of the sete floor debate in and section three was being passed. the clause was originally written after the civil war bar those from the confederacy from voting. senator jacob howardf michigan wanted to expandt and stop former confederates