First of all, this is NOT a 14.3 issue. This trial has nothing at all to do with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
This falls ENTIRELY under the Alaskan Constitution.
Article XII, Section 4 of the Alaska Constitution states:
No person who advocates, or who aids or belongs to any party or organization or association which advocates, the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of the State shall be qualified to hold any public office of trust or profit under this constitution.
The Alaska Constitution was written in 1956, in the middle of a Red Scare and the McCarthy Era. That explains the presence of this peculiar provision. While it may have been written with Communists in mind, obviously its plain language can apply to any subversive group.
Mat-Su voter, Randall Kowalke, filed the lawsuit to enforce the disloyalty provision. Eastman’s election certification is on hold pending the outcome of this trial.
It is undisputed that David Eastman is a member of Oath Keepers and in fact was a founding member of that organization.
And it is not necessary that Eastman himself participated or did not participate in January 6th. Belonging to an organization that advocates or tries to overthrow the United States Government by force is sufficient to disqualify him under the above provision, even if he had no direct or indirect involvement in January 6th.
So ultimately, Oath Keepers itself is on trial here. If the organization itself is found to have advocated for or engaged in the attempted overthrow of the government, Eastman, as a member thereof, will forfeit his office.
Should be interesting.
And to reiterate, this is not a 14.3 issue, but purely a State level issue. The Constitutional provision at issue here does not exist in most State Constitutions, so this sort of thing is likely only to be an issue in Alaska.
Also, if he is disqualified, he would NOT be disqualified from running for Congress from Alaska or even President from Alaska. This provision applies only to Alaskan State offices. He could move and run for a State office in another State.
Likely will get a final judgement from the court (this is a civil bench trial) as early as Monday, but almost certainly during the upcoming week.
