A group of voters in Minnesota are trying to bar Trump from the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment, alleging he violated his oath of office by inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

The trial over an effort in Minnesota to keep former President Donald Trump off of the 2024 ballot began Thursday at the state Supreme Court as a similar case continued in Colorado.

The lawsuits in both states allege Trump should be barred from the 2024 ballot for his conduct leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. They argue Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says no one who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after swearing an oath to support and defend the Constitution can hold office.

A group of Minnesota voters, represented by the election reform group Free Speech for People, sued in September to remove Trump from the state ballot under the 14th Amendment provision. The petitioners include former Minnesota Secretary of State Joan Growe and former state Supreme Court Justice Paul H. Anderson.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
          31·
          1 year ago

          Just one example:

          DENVER (AP) — Then-President Donald Trump could have mobilized the National Guard and other federal agencies to protect the U.S. Capitol once violence broke out on Jan. 6, 2021, a law professor testified Tuesday as a case to bar the former president from the 2024 ballot moved into a new phase.

          William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor and expert in national security law, said that once the attack on the Capitol began, Trump had options he did not use.

          “He should respond to his constitutional responsibilities to protect the security of the United States when there’s an assault on our democratic process,” Banks said of Trump.

          But do explain why Trump didn’t have the responsibility to mobilize the National Guard to defend the Capitol from a bunch of rioters with murder in their eyes.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
              4·
              1 year ago

              It absolutely makes him responsible. What are you talking about? Next you’ll be telling me the Uvalde cops have no responsibility when it came to that massacre despite waiting outside and doing nothing.

              He wasn’t solely responsible. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t share in the responsibility.