Attempts to disqualify Trump from 2024 ballot emerge in multiple states
With former President Donald Trump now facing four separate indictments, two of which touch on claims that he engaged in conduct designed to subvert the nation's electoral process, attempts have emerged – including one in New Hampshire – to disqualify him from appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot altogether, as the Boston Globe reports.
Cited extensively by Election Law Blog, the Globe's piece explains that David Scanlan, New Hampshire's secretary of state, has been contacted by numerous citizens urging him to act upon a legal theory arguing that the Constitution permits him to prevent Trump's placement on the ballot.
Himself a member of the GOP, Scanlan has reportedly indicated that he is aware of the legal theory and is in the process of soliciting legal advice to ensure that the proper course of action is taken with regard to the question.
Scanlan stated, “I have some in-house staff attorneys that are election experts. I will be asking the attorney general's office for their input. And ultimately whatever is decided is probably going to require some judicial input.”
It is not just in the Granite State that those with a political axe to grind against Trump are pursuing legal theories they believe could boot him from the ballot, as The Hill reports.
Indeed, Lawrence Caplan, a Palm Beach County, Florida tax lawyer, is currently mounting a challenge to Trump's ability to seek reelection in 2024, citing the 14the Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Caplan has filed a challenge to Trump's candidacy in federal court on the basis of a provision in the aforementioned amendment saying that those who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government are ineligible for office.
The lawyer said in his filing, “The bottom line here is that President Trump both engaged in an insurrection and also gave aid and comfort to other individuals who were engaging in such actions, within the clear meaning of those terms as defined in Section Three of the 14th Amendment.”
“Assuming that the public record to date is accurate, and we have no evidence to the contrary, Trump is no longer eligible to seek the office of the president of the United States, or of any other state of the Union,” Caplan added.
Speaking to The Hill about his initiative, Caplan said of Trump, “This is a scary, scary guy, and if he's president, I think we're all on the way to fascism. There's no law that says we have to remain a democracy forever.”
Also endorsing theories of disqualification in recent days was Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday that Trump is “absolutely” disqualified from seeking another term in the Oval Office due to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as The Hill reported separately.
Referencing Republican former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson's recent statements in apparent support of the 14th Amendment theory of disqualification, host Dana Bash asked Raskin if he felt the same way.
“Well, absolutely, and we've been saying all along that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment presents a clear and unequivocal statement that anyone who has sworn an oath of office, and by the way not just the president but members of Congress and others who hold federal office, who engage in insurrection or rebellion, having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, can never serve again in federal or state office,” the lawmaker said.
In the eyes of a large number of American voters, however, if any of the aforementioned efforts were to gain a foothold, it would become instantly clear which party is the champion of outright election interference and subversion of the system – and it is certainly not the one with which Trump is affiliated.