While I have to grant the ADN editorial board’s itemization regarding Eastman’s lack of fitness for office in Alaska’s Legislature (Oct. 16), you simply overlooked or failed to look deeply at the basis for disqualifying Eastman. Put simply, it doesn’t matter what Eastman’s supporters want; the people have already spoken when they voted to approve the Alaska Constitution, with its disqualification clause, back in the 1950s. Being only 12 or so years down the historical highway from World War II, clearly they had a better sense of the importance of this provision, and especially given at least one 1940s pre-World War II attempt to overthrow our government undertaken by U.S. citizens.
Secondly, the editorial board failed to adequately utilize or explain the full character of the 14th Amendment, which states: “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.”
Clearly, because of the 14th Amendment’s reference to state Legislatures’ oaths of office and the provision regarding having “given aid or comfort,” Eastman’s presence at Trump’s rally that led to the insurrection attempt Jan. 6 also met the test laid out in the U.S Constitution. His supporters can vote for him as often and as forcefully as they wish, but he can’t hold any federal or state office. Two constitutions, the U.S. and Alaska’s, were approved by the voters, and can’t be passed over so lightly as you would have.
— Barry Jackson
Anchorage
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