Democrats are resorting to downright cheating to stop Trump.
On Friday, a liberal advocacy group initiated legal action in Michigan, contending that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to reclaim his former position based on a rarely invoked provision in the U.S. Constitution, which dates back to the post-Civil War era.
According to Newsmax, this marks the first instance in which an organization with substantial legal resources has attempted to obstruct the presidential campaign of the leading Republican contender in a swing state.
Free Speech For People asserted that Trump’s efforts to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020 and his encouragement of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol constitute a violation of Section Three of the 14th Amendment. This section stipulates that individuals who have taken an oath to support the Constitution and subsequently “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it are disqualified from holding public office.
This lawsuit represents the second legal challenge mounted by this organization to impede the presidential aspirations of the GOP frontrunner, following a previous case filed in Minnesota.
Although numerous lawsuits have been filed across the country, the cases brought forth by Free Speech For People and another liberal group in Colorado are the first ones pursued by organizations with substantial legal resources.
Trump has dismissed the efforts to prevent him from appearing on the ballot as “election interference.” In the Colorado case, his legal team argued that such actions infringe upon his free speech rights.
These cases are considered the most likely to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Court has never issued a ruling on this particular provision.
Michigan holds particular significance for this challenge, given its status as both a swing state and the recent statement by its Democratic Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, in The Washington Post, affirming that she and other top election officials lack the authority to disqualify Trump under this constitutional clause.
Section Three of the 14th Amendment has been invoked only a few times since the conclusion of the Civil War.