The 14th Amendment, section 3, says: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office. The 14th amendment explicitly disqualifies any person from public office, who previously took an oath, and engaged in insurrection or rebellion.Amendment 14: Section 3 no citizen can become a member of the government if they took part in the rebellion. This provision was enacted under the Constitution in the wake of the Civil War to keep people out of office who had previously held federal office. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits former government officials from holding public office again if they have engaged in insurrection or rebellion. The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The Chief Justice offered two arguments against the selfexecution of Section Three. More in The Constitution. The legal theory behind the lawsuit transformed over three years from a fringe idea to a successful case heading to the highest court in the land. In plain language, this generally means that someone who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" can't hold certain public offices.