A far-left activist organization in Michigan launched a lawsuit against former president Donald Trump, arguing that Trump cannot return to office under a seldom-used post-Civil War clause of the United States Constitution.
The GOP frontrunner’s campaign in a battleground state is being challenged for the first time by a group with substantial legal resources.
According to Free Speech For The People’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, Trump’s alleged attempt to reverse his 2020 election loss and promotion of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol disqualify him from holding public office.
This is the group’s second attempt to stop the GOP frontrunner from running for president; the first was in Minnesota.
There have been dozens of lawsuits filed around the country, but just two by groups with significant legal resources have been successful: those made by Free Speech For People and a leftist group in Colorado.
Trump has called efforts to keep him off the ballot “election meddling,” and his lawyers in the Colorado lawsuit claimed that doing so violated their client’s First Amendment rights.
Last week, the United States Supreme Court made history by rejecting an effort to strike former President Donald Trump off the ballot for the 2024 presidential election.
Republican hopeful and tax consultant John Anthony Castro, who has previously sought office unsuccessfully, launched this suit. He said Trump shouldn’t be allowed to run since he allegedly incited the unrest on January 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was essential to Castro’s legal argument since it was originally used to exclude previous members of the Confederate government from taking office after the Civil War.
Castro claimed an insurrection occurred on January 6, 2021, when terrorists attacked the United States Capitol. Donald J. Trump sent the rebels material help in the manner of words of encouragement. According to Castro, this means that Trump can’t legally serve in any elected position.
The Supreme Court refused the case without any discussion or recorded vote.
