It has come to light that a lawsuit to kick former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot in Minnesota might be in trouble. It comes after the state Supreme Court justices hearing the case appeared skeptical that states have the authority to take the unprecedented action via Breit Bart.
The case revolves around the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3’s “Insurrection Clause.” Plaintiffs argue that President Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, disqualify him from appearing on the ballot.
The clause reads:
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.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in other states, including Colorado, where a state trial judge heard arguments all week. 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. 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.
Trump’s attorneys argue that the amendment does not apply to presidents. The text of the amendment references Senators, Representatives, and Presidential electors, as well as other federal officials, but not the presidents. 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.
