Thursday, September 21, 2023
PMT: Minnesota to bar Trump?
The Minnesota Supreme Court just announced that on November 2 they will hear arguments on a case that seeks to bar Donald Trump from the Minnesota primary ballet in 2024. The basis for the suit is this provision of the US Constitution's 14th amendment:
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Behind this effort is a theory proffered by two people I know: my St. Thomas colleague Michael Paulsen and Univ. of Chicago law professor William Baude. You can read their article here.
The response will at least in part rest on the argument that to boot Trump from the ballot without some kind of hearing regarding insurrection will deprive him of his right to due process.
The clause cited above is obviously targeting Confederates after the civil war, just as the Second Amendment was about 18th-century militias. That doesn't mean they are confined to those contexts, though, in either case.
This should be interesting....
