Craig Sicknick, brother of fallen Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, addressed a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, urging Congress to block the certification of President-elect Donald Trump. This call came ahead of the January 6th Congressional meeting to formally certify the Electoral College results, a process enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
The 2020 storming of the Capitol, fueled by false claims of widespread election fraud, provided the backdrop for Sicknick’s impassioned plea. While Officer Sicknick, who clashed with rioters that day, died of natural causes following a stroke, his brother’s demand surpasses even the actions of the January 6th insurrectionists. Craig Sicknick advocated for invoking Article 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to prevent Trump from assuming office.
This strategy mirrors a past left-wing argument, leveraging the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition on those who engaged in “insurrection” to bar Trump from public office. While a Colorado attempt to use this amendment to remove Trump from the ballot was unsuccessful, some Democrats maintained that Congress possessed the power states lacked. Representative Jamie Raskin previously hinted at this possibility, though the practical application with Republican control of both Congressional houses remained unclear.
At the rally, Sicknick called for Trump’s permanent removal from power, urging the attendees to “keep up the peaceful fight against the worst person ever to hold office in the history of our nation.”