OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission rejected a request to have former President Donald Trump removed from the ballot in Massachusetts by utilizing a 14th Amendment provision.
“The challenge was dismissed because the commission noted they do not have the authority to address the matter of booting Trump from the ballot. Trump has faced similar challenges in some states, and while he’s been successful, he was booted from the Colorado and Maine ballots. He’s challenging the rulings, which will soon be debated before the Supreme Court,” The Messenger noted.
The relevant provision of the 14th Amendment prohibits the holding of public office by any individual who has participated in an insurrection or rebellion. The Free Speech For People civil rights organization was the one that started the Massachusetts lawsuit.
“Donald Trump incited hundreds of violent insurrectionists to storm the Capitol to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and other elected officials aided or gave comfort to the insurrectionists,” the group said about the former president.
Trump seemed certain that the three justices he appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, among others, would rule in his favor, allowing him to remain on the ballot in Colorado for the 2024 election.
“We put on three great justices, and you have some other great justices up there, and they’re not going to take the vote away from the people. I’m sure the Supreme Court is going to say, ‘We’re not going to take the vote away from the people,’” Trump said, charging that President Joe Biden is the real “threat to democracy.”
“But I don’t think the Supreme Court would do it because you can’t take the vote. You know, I’m leading in every poll. I’m leading Biden, but I’m leading the remaining Republicans … they’re barely hanging on. How can you possibly take the vote away?” he said.
The former president also suggested that his immunity case would eventually wind up in the Supreme Court, saying, “They have another important [case] and that’s immunity for the president, the president of the United States. And I’m not talking about myself.”
“I’m talking about any president has to have immunity, because if you take immunity away from the president, so important, you will have – you have a president that’s not going to be able to do anything, because when he leaves office, the opposing party president if it’s the opposing party, will indict the president for doing something that should have been good.”
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court decided to take an emergency appeal from attorneys for Trump after the Colorado Supreme Court banned him from that state’s 2024 ballot last month.
The nation’s highest court said that all briefs filed in the case are due by Jan. 31 and that the justices would hear oral arguments on Feb. 8, Fox News reported.
“The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The case is set for oral argument on Thursday, February 8, 2024,” the decision said. “Petitioner’s brief on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support or in support of neither party, are to be filed on or before Thursday, January 18, 2024.”
At the same time, the high court issued a stay of Colorado’s order, instructing that state’s secretary of state to place Trump’s name back on the ballot pending the final decision in the case.
The Colorado court barred Trump under the 14th Amendment’s provision banning “officers” of the United States who engaged in “insurrection” from running for elected office. Supreme Court justices will likely consider the meaning of the phrase “engaged in insurrection” to make their decisions.
Trump has condemned the 14th Amendment litigation as an abuse of the judicial process and denies any wrongdoing about January 6. He has entered a not-guilty plea to federal and state charges related to his efforts to reverse the 2020 election.
Before the unprecedented ruling, a lengthy list of parties, including over a dozen attorneys general from states controlled by Republicans, had filed briefs in a legal challenge to the constitutional eligibility of Trump to appear on Colorado’s 2024 ballot.
