Minnesota Voters Sue to Keep Trump Off Presidential Ballot

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Eight Minnesota voters, including a former Minnesota secretary of state, are suing the current occupant of that office in a bid to keep former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot in 2024.

The lawsuit, which was filed on their behalf by Free Speech For People, a nonpartisan legal advocacy group, contends Trump is disqualified from holding public office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his role in inciting and facilitating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The filing came less than a week after Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon issued a lengthy written statement in which he said it is up to the courts, not him, to decide the matter.

Simon, a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, said as secretary of state his responsibility “is to ensure the people of Minnesota have free, fair, secure and accurate elections.”

He added that “every eligible Minnesotan deserves the opportunity to cast their ballot for the candidate of their choosing.” 

Enacted in the wake of the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies from public office any individual who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution but then engages in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or gives aid or comfort to its enemies. 

The plaintiffs contend Trump’s involvement in the violent attack on Congress to prevent the certification of election results, which resulted in the disruption of the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation’s history, disqualifies him from holding any future public office. 

“Donald Trump violated his oath of office and incited a violent insurrection that attacked the U.S. Capitol, threatened the assassination of the vice president and congressional leaders, and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation’s history,” said Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech For People, in a written statement. 

“Our predecessors understood that oath-breaking insurrectionists will do it again, and worse, if allowed back into power, so they enacted the insurrectionist disqualification clause to protect the republic from people like Trump. Trump is legally barred from the ballot and election officials must follow this constitutional mandate,” Fein said.

Plaintiff Joan Growe, the former Minnesota secretary of state, said she sees her participation in the lawsuit as a continuation of her work while in office.

Now, as then, she said, her goal is “to protect our democracy and uphold the United States Constitution.”

The petition details the multiple actions allegedly taken by Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, starting with widespread claims of election fraud and repeatedly urging former Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral certification of the results before and during the Jan. 6 attack. 

It also describes the ways in which Trump allegedly incited his supporters, many of whom were armed, and whom he knew to be armed, to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” 

“Congress, over a dozen federal judges, Trump’s own Department of Justice, and his personal defense lawyer have all characterized the attack as an insurrection. And judges hearing Jan. 6-related cases have repeatedly assigned responsibility for that insurrection to Trump,” Free Speech For People said in a press release announcing the litigation.

The group filed similar challenges in 2022 against Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

While these challenges did not result in the representatives’ disqualification (Cawthorn’s because he lost his primary while the challenge was pending; Greene’s because the judge found insufficient factual evidence that she, personally, had engaged in the insurrection), Free Speech For People said those earlier cases established important legal precedent laying the groundwork for its current challenge.

These include judicial holdings stating states have legal authority to adjudicate Section 3 challenges; that state processes for adjudicating Section 3 challenges do not violate a candidate’s constitutional rights; that no prior criminal conviction is required under Section 3 challenge; that words can constitute engaging in insurrection; and that an 1872 congressional amnesty for ex-Confederates does not apply to Jan. 6.

“The 14th Amendment is clear: anyone who swears an oath to uphold the Constitution and then engages in insurrection is barred from ever again holding public office,” said Minneapolis attorney Charlie Nauen of Lockridge Grindal Nauen, which is serving as co-counsel with Free Speech For People for the petitioners. “We are asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to rule that, under the United States Constitution, Donald Trump is barred from the ballot.”

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