MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Supreme Court will issue an order Wednesday afternoon in a case over whether former President Donald Trump should be kept off the state’s ballot in 2024.
The order will come after 3 p.m., according to correspondence posted on state judicial branch’s website.
The lawsuit sparking the case cited the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause as grounds for Trump’s disqualification. The clause says anyone who has “previously taken an oath” to the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion … or given aid or comfort,” can’t be president or vice president, or hold any office, in the United States.
Five Minnesota Supreme Court justices considered the case and two recused themselves. Four of those who considered it were appointed by Democratic governors and the other was appointed by a Republican.
State officials had asked the court to make a swift decision due to Minnesota’s presidential primary taking place in March.
A similar case is being considered by the Colorado Supreme Court.
David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University, previously said the case could have a significant impact on future presidential elections.
“If Donald Trump is excluded from the ballot here what’s to prevent another court in another state to say that something that Joe Biden did makes him an insurrectionist and therefore, he can be excluded from the ballot,” he said.
Biden beat Trump in Minnesota in 2020 by more than 233,000 votes. A recent CBS News poll showed Trump trailing Biden among likely voters, though his deficit was within the margin of error. More respondents also said Trump would better-suited to keep the U.S. out of a war and they would be better off financially under Trump.
Trump appeared in court in New York this week in a civil trial accusing him of fraud.
- In:
- Donald Trump
- Election