"If the very fabric of our democracy is to hold, we must ensure that the Constitution is enforced and the same people who attacked our democratic system not be put in charge of it," CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in the release.
CREW alleges that Trump disqualified himself from participating in the 2024 presidential election by violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars someone from holding office if they've "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," the release said.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has only once successfully prevented someone from holding office once since 1869, when New Mexico residents sued to remove a county commissioner from office in 2022, the release said.
CREW argues that the New Mexico lawsuit parallels the facts in the Trump case well enough to be successful too, the release said.
"While it is unprecedented to bring this type of case against a former president, January 6th was an unprecedented attack that is exactly the kind of event the framers of the 14th Amendment wanted to build protections in case of. You don’t break the glass unless there’s an emergency," Bookbinder said.
Trump has denied all accusations of wrongdoing and said earlier this week that a possible attempt to block him from running for president in 2024 by invoking the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution is yet another trick given that it cannot be used with respect to the 2024 election.