Voters in Illinois and Massachusetts are seeking to remove former President Donald Trump, citing the 14th Amendment over Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, as the U.S. Supreme Court said it will review whether states can keep Trump off 2024 presidential ballots.
The new challengers are backed by the advocacy group Free Speech for People, which is also behind efforts to block Trump from the ballot in Oregon, as well as the failed attempt in Minnesota and Michigan, all based on the insurrection clause in the Constitution.
In Illinois, the 87-page petition, signed by five state residents, makes the case for disqualifying Trump from holding office “until Congress provides him relief, which it has not done.”
“Donald J. Trump, through his words and actions, after swearing an oath as an officer of the United States to support the Constitution, engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid and comfort to its enemies, as defined by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the petition, filed with the Illinois Board of Elections on Jan. 4, stated.
The Elections Board will set a hearing for the petition, spokesperson Matt Dietrich told The Associated Press. Hearings for 32 other petitions related to the ballot are set for next week.
A similar petition was filed in Massachusetts on the same day, requesting Trump’s removal from the primary ballot. It included only one signatory: Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor attorney known for her class action lawsuits against Uber, FedEx and Starbucks.
CNN noted that each state has a different process for dealing with challenges to the ballot. In Colorado, the state’s Supreme Court ruled to remove Trump from the ballot, while in Maine, the secretary of state made the decision. Both the verdicts came last month and are being appealed by the Trump campaign. Meanwhile, the petitions in Michigan and Minnesota were also blocked by the courts.
Meanwhile, in California, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis’ calls for excluding Trump from the ballot have been ignored. The lieutenant governor wrote a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber regarding the ballot. But Weber did not give in.
“Removing a candidate from the ballot under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment is not something my office takes lightly and is not as simple as the requirement that a person be at least 35 years old to be president,” Weber wrote in response. She also pushed back on Kounalakis’ request to “explore every legal option” to remove Trump, saying her office “has been engaged in multiple lawsuits” against the former president.
The U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, will make the final decision on whether Trump will appear on the ballot in these states. The oral arguments are scheduled to take place on Feb. 4, before the primary elections take place.