Is the President an ”officer of the United States”?
Surprisingly enough, this is a point of dispute. Trump’s lawyers argue that it must mean something that the President isn’t specifically mentioned in Section 3 when other positions—such as senator and elector—are, and that there are other places in the Constitution where “officer of the United States” seems to mean someone who is appointed, not elected. They cite, for example, the appointments and commissions clauses to back up that argument. A lower court in Colorado previously accepted that reasoning, but its ruling was overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court. And the Colorado voters who sued to remove Trump from the ballot argue that the “officer” argument is an absurd, willfully blind reading of the plain language and intent of Section 3. They cite, among other things, an exchange in Congress at the time that the Amendment was being debated, in which a senator indicated that the term “officer” covered the President. And there are other places in the Constitution (such as the emoluments clause) in which, they contend, “officer” does apply to the President.
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
