The trial over an effort in Minnesota to keep former President Donald Trump off of the 2024 ballot began Thursday at the state Supreme Court as a similar case continued in Colorado.
The lawsuits in both states allege Trump should be barred from the 2024 ballot for his conduct leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. They argue Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says no one who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after swearing an oath to support and defend the Constitution can hold office.
A group of Minnesota voters, represented by the election reform group Free Speech for People, sued in September to remove Trump from the state ballot under the 14th Amendment provision. The petitioners include former Minnesota Secretary of State Joan Growe and former state Supreme Court Justice Paul H. Anderson.
The state of Minnesota cannot disqualify him from holding federal office. They can keep his name off the ballot in Minnesota, and prevent him from legally campaigning, but electoral college delegates are actually free to vote for whomever they like. This has never happened before, and there is no real precedent. Mickey Mouse has never won the popular vote for president in any state, and even if he did, he’s not a real person. Trump is, unfortunately, very real, and his supporters attacked the Capitol building to keep him in power. No shame, no propriety, no precedent will stop him. We don’t know what he’ll do if he loses this court case, but it’s probably not going to be graceful.
Yes, but if Minnesota says he is off the ballot it will be appealed to the supreme court who is the authority on constitutional interpretation. If they side with Minnesota, not even the electoral college can put him in. Likely whichever (if any) case goes against him, all other active trials will be put on hold awaiting a response from the USSC. If they decide the 14th does apply (a big if given the state of the USSC), then it is over. In all 50 states. That’s why groups are hitting him in multiple states. They just need 1. It isn’t an attempt to take him off the ballot. It is an attempt to end his federal political career entirely.
There’s no way the SCOTUS hears the case, regardless. They’ll find a way to punt on it. Only way it happens is if Biden packs the court, which he won’t do.
If they don’t hear it, then it is essentially saying they agree with the lower court ruling. If they want to be against it then they have to hear it.