Efforts to block Trump from the ballot ‘in order to save Democracy’ have been underway in at least 35 states
Former President Trump said Thursday that there would be “chaos and bedlam” if the U.S. Supreme Court would not reverse the state of Colorado’s decision to remove him from primary ballots ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump has appealed the ruling and oral arguments in the court are scheduled for Feb. 8.
The state of Maine has made a similar decision.
There, Trump’s appeal is with the state’s Superior Court where the judge in charge stayed the case Wednesday until after the Supreme Court ruling.
Proceeding to remove Trump from the ballot initiated by states or citizens’ lawsuits are based on a Civil War-era constitutional amendment that disqualifies government officials who engaged in insurrection from holding office.
In total, Statista’s Katharina Buchholz, using data from The New York Times, has counted 35 states where efforts to block Trump from the ballot ‘in order to save Democracy’ have been underway.
As of Thursday, the newspaper listed 17 as having been dismissed and, considering the Supreme Court’s makeup, said that it was likely that Trump would appear on ballots after all.
A lawsuit against Trump’s ballot inclusion was just dismissed last week in Washington state.
“This has the potential to tear our nation apart if left unchecked,” Missouri Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said in a statement.
Ashcroft led a group of 11 state election officials (secretaries of state from Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia joined Ashcroft) in submitting an amicus or “friend of the court” brief “in support of neither party,” according to the document.
Ashcroft’s coalition argues in a 26-page document the U.S. Constitution doesn’t empower a state official to disqualify candidates for federal office.
The brief also states historical precedent doesn’t give secretaries of state any power to disqualify a candidate under the Constitution.
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