Can Trump be banned from US Capitol? Rep. Nikema Williams introduces House resolution prohibiting his entry
As the fallout from January 6 Capitol Hill riots continues, freshman Representative Nikema Williams, representing Georgia's 39th district, has introduced a House resolution to ban President Donald Trump from the Capitol complex after he vacates office on January 20, following the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. The Capitol riots saw a death toll of at least five people, includuing a DC police officer who was beaten to death by pro-Trump rioters using a fire extinguisher.
The riots at the US Capitol building as Congress convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential elections came after months of baseless allegations by Trump that there was voter fraud and that he won by a landslide. Trump continues to deny responsibility for the attacks and released a video condemning the incident on the same day that the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for a second time.
Williams is the chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia and succeeds the late civil rights activist John Lewis in the position. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Talladega College, an HBCU, where she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
The resolution prohibiting Trump from entering the Capitol at any time after the expiration of his term as president, essentially banning and blocking him from the federal building, states, "The Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate, and the United States Capitol Police shall take such actions as may be necessary to prohibit President Donald John Trump from entering the United States Capitol at any time after the expiration of his term as President," according to Newsweek.
The resolution was introduced by Williams one day after Trump was impeached for a historic second time by the House of Representatives, including all House Democrats and 10 Republicans. The impeachment came as reports stated that Republicans wanted to vote for the impeachment but abstained from doing so because they "feared for their lives."
Since the riots, Democratic House members have expressed that they feel unsafe around GOP colleagues who may have had sympathies with insurrectionists who sought to stop Biden from becoming president.
Williams' resolution to ban Trump from Capitol grounds is not entirely unprecedented. Last year, Black Lives Matter protesters were banned from entering the Iowa Capitol Complex. The ban was lifted after American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit that the ban blocked protestors' fundamental constitutional rights, including those of free speech, assembly, and their right to petition their government. Also last year, Republican California state senators were banned from the Capitol after one of them tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, potentially exposing others to the virus.
Should Williams' resolution be passed, it will be the first time a US president, serving or otherwise, will have been banned from entering the US Capitol. The last time the Capitol was breached was in 1814, during the War of 1812 when British troops set fire to much of Washington DC and burned the US Capitol.