A liberal group filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot in Minnesota, the second major lawsuit in two weeks that hopes to invoke the 14th Amendment’s arcane “insurrectionist ban.”
The cases are seen as legal long shots. Trump denies wrongdoing and has vowed to fight to remain on the presidential ballot. The new Minnesota lawsuit was filed in state court by Free Speech For People, one week after another group initiated a similar challenge in Colorado.
A post-Civil War provision of the 14th Amendment says any American official who takes an oath to uphold the US Constitution is disqualified from holding future office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or have “given aid or comfort” to insurrectionists.
However, the Constitution doesn’t spell out how to enforce this ban, and it has been applied only twice since the late 1800s, when it was used against former Confederates.
Could you imagine how it would affect the turnout down ballot if Trump tells his supporters to boycott the election in any state that bans him off the ballot? Heck, if Wisconsin bans him, they might elect a majority democrat state congress - which requires like 75% of the vote to go to democrats.
The thing that makes me worry about this is that if he isn’t kept off the ballot completely and I mean nationwide his followers will feel like the evil government has stolen their hero and believe their only recourse at that point will be violence
Some of them will likely be violent regardless if he “wins” (the EC), loses both EC and the popular vote or if we adhere to the Constitution and keep him out of office that way, so we should not really try to follow the law based on what we think the very worst elements of society might do as a consequence of that.
Oh I 100% agree that he should be kept off, not arguing to let them have their way, I’m just genuinely worried about what is coming
Fuck 'em, let them. Our institutions have held up pretty well all things considered. It’ll hold. If they want to die on that hill it isn’t worth our democracy to keep them off it.