Minnesota Rejects Lawsuit – Trump Stays on the Ballot

(NewsInsights.org) – In the wake of federal charges against former President Donald Trump over the events of January 6, 2021, activists in Colorado and Minnesota have brought suits to remove him from the respective state ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, sometimes nicknamed the insurrection clause. On November 8, the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed the suit in that jurisdiction, ensuring Trump will stay on the ballot there — for now.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment delineates the circumstances that would disqualify an elected official from holding office. It states that anyone who has served in state or federal government as an elected official or a military officer and taken an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States will find themselves disqualified from holding office if they participate in an insurrection or rebellion against Constitutional laws or aid those who do. It provides that Congress can remove the disqualification by a two-thirds vote of each chamber.

Activists claim that when Trump allegedly sought to thwart the peaceful transfer of power, he disqualified himself from holding office. Yet, Minnesota’s Supreme Court ruled that while the petitioners had standing to file the claim and the claim had merit in the case of the general election, the Court could find no legal precedent preventing a political party from placing a disqualified person’s name on a primary election ballot.

Moreover, the Court could not address the internal party mechanisms regarding the primary election ballots. The Court also found that because there was no imminent general election and voters hadn’t yet selected a candidate via the primary process, the issue was not “ripe,” and the Court had to dismiss the case without prejudice pending the general election. Should Trump become the Republican party nominee, the activists could bring the matter back before the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Trump campaign celebrated the dismissal as a vindication. The former president and his campaign have called attempts to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment against him “unconstitutional attempts to interfere with the election by desperate Democrats.”