House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., criticized reports that Democrats were preparing legislation in response to the Supreme Court's decision Monday to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot.
“We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold public office. But states have no authority under the Constitution to enforce Article 3 with respect to federal offices, particularly the presidency,” the Court wrote, adding that “the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and nominees.
According to a report Monday in Axios, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, a former member of the Jan. 6 select committee, said he is already crafting federal legislation that would force Trump off the ballot.
But a spokesperson for President Johnson told Fox News Digital on Monday evening that his Democratic colleagues should “take control.”
SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY REIGNS FOR TRUMP IN Colorado BALLOT DISQUALIFICATION DISPUTE
Chairman Mike Johnson, R-La.
“Democrats must take back control. In this country, it is the American people who decide the next president, not the courts or Congress,” the spokesperson said.
According to the Axios report, Raskin referenced legislation he introduced in 2022 with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. it would allow the Justice Department to sue to exclude candidates from the ballot under the 14th Amendment.
“We’re going to revise it in light of the Supreme Court’s decision,” Raskin told the outlet. He suggested that the bill be accompanied by a resolution declaring January 6 an “insurrection” and that those involved “engaged in an insurrection.”
Trump faces a number of federal charges related to the 2020 election, but he has not been charged with insurrection.
LEGAL EXPERTS RALLY AROUND SUPREME COURT DECISION KEEPING Trump ON THE BALLOT: 'SAFE WARNING' TO 'RADICALS'
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
In Monday's Supreme Court ruling, the nine justices unanimously agreed that states do not have Section 3 enforcement authority. But Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled said the majority had gone too far in asserting that Congress had sole enforcement authority.
“The majority announces that a disqualification for insurrection can only occur when Congress enacts a particular type of legislation pursuant to Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. In doing so, the majority closes the door to other potential means of enforcement by the federal government,” the three trios said. .
'THE VIEW' CO-HOSTS ADMIT TO RECOVERY SCOTUS COLORADO'S DECISION WAS 'GOOD DECISION,' BUT BLAST COURT 'Partisan'
Supreme Court judges. (United States Supreme Court Collection via Getty Images)
“The Court today needed to resolve only one question: whether an individual state could exclude from its ballot a presidential candidate convicted of insurrection. The majority resolves much more than the case before us. Although federal enforcement of Section 3 is in No Issue, the Majority Announces New Rules for How This Enforcement Should Work,” the three wrote.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“It seeks to adjudicate Section 3 issues not before us and to bar future efforts to disqualify a presidential candidate under this provision,” the three said.
Rep. Raskin's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.