Donald Trump is disqualified from taking office by the plain language of the Constitution which reads as follows:

Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment: “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 of 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.”

The clause is self-executing and needs no conviction to take effect. One jurisdiction has adjudicated the fact that Trump engaged in an insurrection and at least one secretary of state has found that Trump has engaged in an insurrection. That is enough.

Now that the Supreme Court has taken up the matter it will be interesting to see what weasel words the right-leaning SCOTUS will come up with to keep Trump on the ballot.