Punishment of Rebels after World War VIPER

DISCLAIMER: I am not a Constitutional Scholar, nor do I have a law degree. I am, however, the product of a prior generation of public schooling which took seriously its duties in teaching my generation the basics of American Civics.

In the epilogues of both "Like a Jewel in the Heavens" and "World War VIPER", the fate of those Americans who took VIPER's side in the rebellion against President Hawkins is discussed extensively. In both stories, it is mentioned that the rebels who did not choose exile from Earth and had not committed capital offenses during the war were disenfranchised, spending the rest of their lives as lower-class citizens in American society. "How is this even possible," you might ask.

The answer lies with the amendments added to the Constitution in the aftermath of the Real Life American Civil War in the 19th Century. Specifically, the 14th amendment has several sections and sub-clauses written into it designed to keep former Confederate officials from ever holding elected office again. These parts of the 14th amendment are written broadly enough that they could still apply to people in the event of a future insurrection against the United States, and are what the Hawkins Administration uses as its punishment against the surviving rebels who remained on Earth.

Section 1:

This section of the 14th amendment is written to prevent states from abridging Constitutionally-guaranteed rights such as those spelled out in the Bill of Rights. If one chooses to be clever and interpret permissible or impermissible actions by their omission, it is silent about whether or not the Federal Government is allowed to abridge rights. The abridgement of freedom-of-speech rights mentioned in the conversation between Bob and Sergei during the epilogue of "World War VIPER" would likely have been attempted under this interpretation of section 1 -- and the punishment most likely to not withstand a Supreme Court challenge regardless of the fact that the rebels were basically siding with VIPER.

Section 2:

The "Rebellion" clause toward the end of this section will be the one cited by President Hawkins' Justice Department to deny anyone who supported VIPER during the war the right to vote in any Federal or State elections. This interpretation, based on my reading of case law and precedent involving this clause, is likely to survive a legal challenge.

Section 3:

This entire section will be cited by the Hawkins Administration as the legal basis for denying anyone who supported VIPER the right to hold public and/or elected office. Even though this limitation was overthrown in an 1898 congressional vote, I could see it reinstated by a similar congressional vote post-rebellion.