The effort to bar former President Donald Trump from reclaiming the White House using the 14th Amendment is being dismissed by an unlikely group — Democrats.
Officials in several states are looking into whether Trump should be removed from the 2024 ballot due to his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Section 3 of the amendment bars people from holding certain offices if they previously took an oath to uphold the Constitution and “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
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While Democratic lawmakers such as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) argue the validity of the theory that Trump could be disqualified from running under the 14th Amendment, some of the nation’s top Democratic election officials are wary about the lawsuits.
Last month, Robert Davis, an activist, filed a legal challenge in Michigan to keep Trump off the presidential ballot. Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told Politico the Supreme Court is the “appropriate place to resolve this issue.” She added that it’s not “appropriate for a state to give the secretary of state authority” to handle the ballot push, noting a judicial official should do so.
In the latest case targeting Trump’s position on the ballot, a liberal group filed a lawsuit in Minnesota, arguing he engaged in an insurrection through his “words and actions.” The group, Free Speech For People, filed a lawsuit in Colorado last week.
Democratic Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said state courts had to handle the case, stating, “We are not the eligibility police.”
“We don’t have investigators. We don’t lie in the bushes with binoculars to determine whether a candidate is really lying her head where she says she does for residency purposes," Simon said. "And the same is true for this kind of eligibility challenge."
Echoing Simon’s concerns, Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold spoke on her state’s lawsuit, stating that “the court has to make those determinations and likely will.”
A write-in Republican presidential candidate, John Anthony Castro, has filed lawsuits against Trump in several states, including New Mexico, Maine, Wisconsin, and others.
Democratic New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver pointed to state law when questioned about how to handle the lawsuits.
"Unless a court tells us to do something before filing day in 2024, if Donald Trump files in New Mexico to run for president, we will make a determination at that time based on our understanding of New Mexico law and the requirements to run for office in New Mexico," she said in a statement to KOAT-TV.
The lawsuit in Maine last week prompted Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) to cast doubt on the legal idea, telling Maine Public’s Maine Calling the move is “extraordinary,” but she did not have a position on the law.
Republican state officials have pushed back on the legal argument, vowing to allow Trump to run in the state election.
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Republican New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said on Wednesday, one day after Trump and dozens of GOP lawmakers sent a letter to his office arguing there is no legal basis in the 14th Amendment argument, that he has no intention of trying to keep the former president’s name off the state ballot.
“There is no mention in New Hampshire state statute that a candidate in a new presidential primary can be disqualified using the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution referencing insurrection or rebellion,” Scanlan said during a news conference.