Staff Reports
In yet another blow to the Democrats’ attempts to disqualify Republicans using text from the 14th Amendment, a Michigan judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to use language meant to disqualify former Confederate officials from office to get Trump off the ballot. The judge also ruled that Michigan’s secretary of state couldn’t declare Trump ineligible because of the “insurrectionist ban” language. It seems the Democrats’ relentless efforts to remove Republicans who didn’t immediately support the certification of the 2020 election results are continuously being shut down by the courts.
Michigan Judge Refuses to Do Dems' Bidding, Hands Trump Winhttps://t.co/GRGhtWgwmp
By C. Douglas Golden – November 15, 2023
The Democrats keep on trying to shut down Republicans using text from the 14th Amendment. And courts, in turn, keep on shutting them down.
In the latest…
— The Western Journal (@WestJournalism) November 15, 2023
The language in question from the 14th Amendment states that those who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States shall be disqualified from holding office. However, getting two-thirds of Congress to agree on anything these days is nearly impossible. So, the Democrats’ attempts to disqualify Trump and other Republicans who opposed the certification of the 2020 election seem to be falling flat.
Similar attempts to remove Trump from the ballot have also failed in Minnesota, where the state Supreme Court rejected the challenge. Efforts to remove individual representatives, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, from the ballot have also not been successful. It’s clear that the Democrats’ use of the 14th Amendment to disqualify Republicans is not gaining traction in the courts.
While the 14th Amendment has been the subject of legal interpretations in the past, disqualifying Democrats for expressing doubt over previous elections was never considered an option. It is only after the Capitol incursion on January 6, 2021, that some on the left suddenly deemed the “insurrection” clause a significant issue. However, they have yet to secure any major court victories and it doesn’t appear likely that they will anytime soon.
In the Michigan case, Judge James Redford ruled that the decision to exclude Trump from the ballot should be left to Congress and not decided by a single judicial officer. He emphasized that the decision should be made by elected representatives and not a single person, regardless of their intentions. A similar case in Colorado is pending, but it’s expected that the result will be the same.
The Trump campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, criticized these lawsuits as “unconstitutional left-wing fantasies” orchestrated by the Biden campaign’s allies to overturn the election results. The group that lost the Michigan lawsuit plans to appeal the decision and hopes that the state Supreme Court will intervene.
Until a liberal group can secure a victory in one of these cases, it seems that attempts to remove Trump and other Trump-allied Republicans from the ballot will remain unfruitful. These lawsuits may still be a concern to conservatives in states like Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado where the rulings have left the door open for appeals. However, Judge Redford rightfully recognized the flaws in the Democrats’ arguments and shut down their misguided attempts to disqualify Republicans using the 14th Amendment.
