Former President Donald Trump is fighting against a legal effort in Oregon to disqualify him from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot after being barred from two states in the past few weeks.
Attorneys with the group Free Speech For People filed a lawsuit with the state’s Supreme Court, attempting to block Trump from appearing on the Oregon ballot under a clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prevents people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
BIDEN LOSES GROUND WITH YOUNG VOTERS AND MINORITY VOTING GROUPS: POLL
Last Friday, Trump’s attorneys filed a 162-page brief with the Oregon Supreme Court arguing against the opposition, writing that the Republican front-runner “did not violate Section 3” of the 14th Amendment. His lawyers said the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol can’t be defined as an insurrection.
Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, a Democrat, said in November that she would not block Trump from the ballot for the Oregon Republican Party primary, citing she lacks the authority to rule in such a matter.
“Oregon law does not give me the authority to determine the qualifications of candidates in a presidential primary,” Griffin-Valade said. “I will follow our usual process and expect to put Donald Trump on the primary ballot unless a court directs me otherwise.”
The Oregon Supreme Court asked both parties to submit supplemental briefs by Jan. 9 on whether the plaintiffs have standing and to determine what authority the secretary of state has in the decision, Todd Sprague, a spokesman for the Oregon Judicial Department, confirmed to Willamette Week. A decision can be expected anytime after those briefs are filed.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump is appealing a decision in two states where he was removed from the primary ballot. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, ousted Trump last week after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled he was ineligible to run for president. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to take up Trump’s challenges to rulings against him, but that could change soon.
Additional pending cases in Alaska, Nevada, New York, Texas, South Carolina, and others could rule on similar arguments, while several states had lawsuits that were voluntarily dismissed.
