[Note: This is the ninth in a series of essays responding to objections that have been made to enforcing Section Three of the Constitution. The first eight essays can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.]
A question regularly raised about our interpretation and explication of Section Three is how its rules might bear on various different factual patterns, real or imagined. Does conduct of a particular description, in a specific set of circumstances, on its own unique facts, constitutes having "engaged in" "insurrection or rebellion" within the meaning of the Constitution? What about this situation? What about this one?
Accepting as given our account of Section Three's terms – "insurrection," "rebellion," "engaged in," "aid or comfort to" – folks frequently ask how these legal definitions and standards apply to a variety of real or hypothesized situations. Our answer is that the facts matter. Further, the determination of what the facts are is by and large committed to the legal process – the record amassed at trial and the ensuing judgment of the trier of fact.
