The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday that could revive an effort to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in Minnesota’s Super Tuesday primary — though that’s a long shot.
The high court heard a challenge to Colorado’s decision to keep Trump off the state’s ballot. If the court decides in Colorado’s favor, something that is far from assured, a group of voters in Minnesota who want to bar Trump from running in the state again could try again to do so.
“I think it’s fair to say that if the court rules in favor of Colorado, we could refile our action,” said Ronald Fein, a lawyer for Free Speech for People, a nonprofit representing state voters who filed the Minnesota case.
Last year, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a bid by eight voters in the state led by former Minnesota Secretary of State Joan Growe to bar Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot.
Like similar efforts in Colorado and other states, the Minnesota case was based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars anyone who has engaged in insurrection after swearing to uphold the Constitution from holding office again. The 14th Amendment was drafted after the Civil War, and the insurrection clause was originally aimed at preventing former Confederate officers from holding public office.
The plaintiffs in the case filed in Minnesota argued that Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from being placed on Minnesota’s primary ballot.
But the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a primary election is not an election for federal office, but rather a party-led event that is not covered under the insurrection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“This is an internal party election to serve internal party purposes, and winning the presidential nomination primary does not place the person on the general election ballot as a candidate for President of the United States,” the court’s order said.
But a Colorado court ruled that the state could keep Trump off the state’s primary ballot. If that ruling prevails at the U.S. Supreme Court, Fein said he would refile the Minnesota suit challenging Trump’s name on the ballot in November.
“We would be free to refile for the general election and certainly would,” he said.
Voting for Minnesota’s Super Tuesday primary has already begun.
