Do states have the power to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot?
That is the question Minnesota’s state Supreme Court justices are pondering in the wake of a lawsuit that aims to do just that.
Even if the court had the authority to do such a thing, “Should we is the question that concerns me the most,” said Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, according to Breitbart.
At the center of the controversial case is Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment — the “Insurrection Clause”:
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.
Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, the lawsuit argues, disqualify him from appearing on Minnesota’s ballot.
Though liberals and the media that adores them have repeatedly described the events at the Capitol that fateful day as a “violent insurrection,” Trump’s lawyers argue that it was no such thing and Trump was not responsible for what did happen.
The former president has not been charged with insurrection in a court of law, and, though he was twice impeached, he was also twice acquitted by the Senate.
What’s more, the Insurrection Clause does not apply to presidents, they claim.
“The text of the amendment references Senators, Representatives, and Presidential electors, as well as other federal officials, but not the presidents,” Breitbart explains. “The oath the amendment specifies, which is sworn by those listed officials, is not the same oath sworn by presidents. The presidential oath is prescribed separately in the Constitution.”
“Trump’s attorneys further argue that neither Minnesota law nor federal law allow the courts to strike a candidate from the ballot,” the outlet adds.
As BizPac Review reported, the 501 (c)(3) group Free Speech For People brought the Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit against Trump in Minnesota. The group has received funding from America’s favorite “spooky dude,” billionaire George Soros via the Open Society Foundations, the grantmaking network now run by his heir and successor, Alex Soros.
And Minnesota isn’t the only state attempting to boot Trump off the ballot.
A similar legal battle is being waged in Colorado.
There, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is behind the lawsuit, a group that is also said to have Soros ties.
George Soros behind bid to remove Trump from ballot in key state https://t.co/qgDUo7tya5 via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) November 1, 2023
“The Colorado case, heard by Judge Sarah Wallace, who was appointed by Democrat Governor Jared Polis, may eventually be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Breitbart reports, adding, “The Supreme Court has never ruled on this provision of the Fourteenth Amendment, leading to the novel approach to use it to keep Trump off the ballot.”
In Minnesota, two of the seven justices recused themselves.
Chief Justice Hudson was among those justices who felt that “given its constitutional roles and powers in certifying presidential electors and impeaching presidents,” Congress should settle the eligibility question, according to Breitbart.
“[Those powers] seem to suggest there is a fundamental role for Congress to play and not the states because of that,” Hudson said. “It’s that interrelation that I think is troubling, that suggests that this is a national matter for Congress to decide.”
Should multiple states come to different conclusions about their ability to keep Trump off their ballots, it could mean “chaos,” Hudson said.
“Primaries in Minnesota and Colorado will take place March 5, 2024,” Breitbart notes.
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
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1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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