At least six states are facing pushes from both Democrats and conservatives who are seeking to keep former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot by disqualifying him under the 14th Amendment.
Election officials in Alaska, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Rhode Island all confirmed to the Messenger that they are aware of legal discussions about using the 14th Amendment to keep the former president from the ticket in their respective states.
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Some conservative legal scholars and critics of the former president say the 14th Amendment bars those who’ve taken an oath to support the Constitution from holding office again if they’ve “engaged in insurrection” against America or have “given aid or comfort” to its enemies.
Advocacy groups believe Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, for which he is facing state and federal indictments, meet that criteria. He has denied any wrongdoing in either case.
Kelly Howard, the chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom (R-AK), told the Messenger that the state’s Division of Elections was aware of the arguments making landfall in Alaska and will “consider them if necessary.”
Free Speech for People, a legal advocacy group, sent letters to top election officials across nine states last month. Last week, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit in Denver. The Washington Examiner reached out to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office for comment.
New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella and Secretary of State David M. Scanlan, both Republicans, said in a statement to the Messenger that both of their offices were aware of the “public discourse” regarding whether or not the 14th Amendment’s principles could be used to disqualify Trump, “including misinformation asserting or implying that the Secretary of State’s Office has already taken a position on or is seeking to take certain action with respect to Donald Trump’s candidacy for the Republican National Convention’s nomination for president in the 2024 United States Presidential Election.”
The two officials clarified that neither office has taken a stance on the matter, and Formella’s office is “carefully reviewing the legal issues involved.”
The efforts to remove Trump under the 14th Amendment are occurring in at least two battleground states that Trump targeted in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election: Michigan and New Mexico. Other states included Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said that she and other secretaries of state started having conversations about preparing for legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy over a year ago.
“I’m talking every day with colleagues about this, we’re all recognizing that our decisions that we make may in some cases be the first but won’t be the last, and there may be multiple decision points throughout the course of the election cycle,” Benson said in an interview with ABC News. “So, I think the public needs to be prepared for this to be an ongoing issue that is it has several resolution points and evolution points throughout the cycle.”
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Trump has called the disqualification movement a political “trick” with no legal standing.
“Joe Biden, Democrats, and Never Trumpers are scared to death because they see polls showing President Trump winning in the general election,” Steven Cheung, the spokesman for Trump’s campaign, previously said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “The people who are pursuing this absurd conspiracy theory and political attack on President Trump are stretching the law beyond recognition much like the political prosecutors in New York, Georgia, and DC. There is no legal basis for this effort except in the minds of those who are pushing it.”
