Who Is an "Officer?"

One of the more bizarre arguments being made on behalf of Der Furor by his lawyers, acolytes, and sycophants in an attempt to shield him from responsibility for prosecution on a charge of insurrection under the 14th Amendment is that he is not an "officer of the United States" in the meaning of the law. 

Here's the actual text of the 14th Amendment (the italics are mine):

"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. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

Now, it seems to me that the President of the United States is pretty clearly the most senior and responsible officer of the United States. Under The Constitution he is, after all, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, along with a bunch of other responsibilities (see Article 2, Section 2).  

But does the law actually specify who an officer is? As it happens, it does!

The US Code is the official compilation of the nation's federal laws. It has 50 "Titles" addressing various topics of the law, which are subdivided into hundreds of Chapters and Sections of increasing specificity*. Title 1 (General Provisions) explains the general outline and structure of the US Code; Chapter 1 of Title 1 (Rules of Construction) tells us how to read the rest of the Code; and Section 1 of Chapter 1 (Words denoting number, gender, and so forth) helpfully defines major terms ...

"In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise [...] "officer" includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office;"

Now, that seems pretty clear to me ... but then, I'm not a high-priced lawyer in search of the loopiest of loopholes in service of a desperate client.

Section 1 also helpfully defines other terms useful in today's torture of the law in the defense of the indefensible ...

"... the words "insane" and "insane person" shall include every idiot, insane person, and person non compos mentis;"

and, thanks to the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court ...

"... the words "person" and "whoever" include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;"

Yep, Furor, you're an officer of the United States. And you're guilty as hell. Just shut up and go away.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* You might recall that God Almighty only needed ten commandments.