In multiple court cases around the country, the 14th Amendment is being weaponized to keep President Trump off the 2024 ballots. Minnesota has now ruled that Trump can STAY on the ballot.

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday punted on a decision that could keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 presidential ballot in that state.

The court dismissed a lawsuit that would bar Trump from the primary ballot under a provision of the 14th Amendment that bars people from holding public office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” But the justices noted on Wednesday that the decision applied only to the state’s primary, leaving open the possibility that the former president could be booted from the ballot in the general election in November.

The 14th Amendment, according to many across the political realm means Trump cannot and should not be on the ballot! What does Section 3 of that Amendment say?

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.

Now, if you were Liz Cheney, you’d take one look at that and unequivocally agree that Trump’s words on January 6 completely meet the definition of insurrection! She’s going to roll with that for the rest of her life. 

That said, the Minnesota court disagrees. Via Legal Insurrection:

With respect to the only ripe issue before us at this time, we conclude that under section 204B.44, there is no “error” to correct here as to the presidential primary election if former President Trump’s name is included on the presidential primary ballot after the Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota provides his name to the Secretary of State, notwithstanding petitioners’ claim that former President Trump is disqualified from holding office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

~Snip

Thus, although the Secretary of State and other election officials administer the mechanics of the election, this is an internal party election to serve internal party purposes, and winning the presidential nomination primary does not place the person on the general election ballot as a candidate for President of the United States…. And there is no state statute that prohibits a major political party from placing on the presidential nomination primary ballot, or sending delegates to the national convention supporting, a candidate who is ineligible to hold office.

Because there is no error to correct here as to the presidential nomination primary, and petitioners’ other claims regarding the general election are not ripe, the petition must be dismissed, but without prejudice as to petitioners bringing a petition raising their claims as to the general election.

OH. Well, isn’t that interesting! Of course, if you are the media or those pushing this law fare, one will as Politico did, paint this as the judge caving to political pressure from the Trump side of the aisle. 

Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech For People, said the group was disappointed by the decision.

“However, the Minnesota Supreme Court explicitly recognized that the question of Donald Trump’s disqualification for engaging in insurrection against the U.S. Constitution may be resolved at a later stage,” Fein said. “The decision isn’t binding on any court outside Minnesota and we continue our current and planned legal actions in other states to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Donald Trump.”

So, they will continue their law fare against Trump and stretch the meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment until it snaps.

https://twitter.com/chriseagan/status/1722396465283412426

Heh, exactly! Here in Colorado, a similar court case is on-going. 

Jena Griswold, CO’s Secretary of State, is no fan of Trump. Furthermore, she’ll tell you that Colorado elections are totally secure. Uh huh… tell that to my husband as we have a SECOND ballot addressed to him sitting on our kitchen counter at this very moment! 

At least Ken Buck testified during the Colorado court proceedings that yes, the J6 committee “investigations” were very lopsided in regards to whom the committee cherry picked for testimony. 

“What they didn’t post were the questions that weren’t asked. And they didn’t post the documents that weren’t subpoenaed and they didn’t post the interviews that didn’t occur,” he said.

Keep in mind, part of these lawsuits are predicated on the belief that Trump’s claims of election tampering were bogus. Except there were machines that went down in multiple states on Tuesday, and in Pennsylvania the touch screen machines were flipping votes in real time. 

Yet, because it is Trump, no one has been allowed to point out that there ARE issues that should be addressed! Hence the law fare against him using the 14th Amendment as a bludgeon. Needless to say, the Minnesota decision to let him stay on the ballot will have Trump’s opponents clutching pearls as it could mean other cases might fail as well. 

The Minnesota Supreme Court–dominated by Democrats 6-1–tactically retreated in the Democrats' illegal campaign to kick Trump off the ballot.

They'll wait until after a Democrat Denver judge kicks Trump off the Colorado ballot on or before November 17th.https://t.co/YkgNZoQhSQ pic.twitter.com/bn396ZCVv0

— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) November 8, 2023

Operative word …”might.” We will just have to wait and see how this goes. 

Feature Photo Credit: 2024 Election banner via iStock, cropped and modified