Arguments in Minnesotans’ effort to block Trump from ballot set for November

By KAALTV

(Credit: KSTP-TV)

(KSTP) – The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the effort to block former President Donald Trump from appearing on state ballots in the 2024 election.

Arguments in the case, which was filed by a group of Minnesota voters earlier this month, have been set for Nov. 2.

The group’s petition argues that Trump is barred from holding public office by the 14th Amendment’s “Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause,” something groups in other states have also argued after the U.S. House of Representatives’ Jan. 6 committee found that Trump “lit that fire” of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. However, there are many questions over that clause’s applicability, Trump hasn’t actually been convicted of an insurrection, and it’s also unclear if the group of voters has actual standing in the case and if Minnesota’s court system can remove a name from a ballot.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who says his office has gotten “hundreds of emails, calls, and letters” regarding Trump’s eligibility for office, adds that his office doesn’t have any authority to investigate a candidate’s eligibility, saying that’s for the courts to determine.

The Republican Party of Minnesota argues that only political parties can determine who to put on their ballot and denying any candidate would be a violation of the party’s First Amendment rights. Additionally, the party says Minnesota courts lack the standing to determine a president’s eligibility for a federal office.

“Petitioners’ shortsighted requests would do violence, not simply to the Republican Party of Minnesota, but to all political parties and their members. This Court should decline Petitioners’ invitation to play butcher to the U.S. Constitution,” the Republican Party of Minnesota said in its court brief.

Simon also filed a brief but didn’t take a position on the group’s claims, other than agreeing that the courts are the proper place to decide the eligibility issue. Instead, he simply asked the court to make a decision in the case by Jan. 5, 2024, so that there is enough time for the state and vendors to have the ballots properly printed.

The group that filed the petition includes former Minnesota Secretary of State Joan Growe, former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson and former Steele County GOP Co-Chair David Thul.

Some legal experts believe the case will likely end up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.