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Former President Donald Trump responded Monday to Democrats’ attempts to ban him from the 2024 presidential primaries, saying the U.S. Constitution protects him.
Trump is facing efforts in several states to remove his name from ballots over his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol protests, which his critics say amounted to an insurrection against the United States. Lawyers for Trump argue that his statements about the 2020 election are protected by the First Amendment.
“At no time do petitioners allege that President Trump has done anything other than engage in speaking or refuse to speak in support of their argument that he was involved in the alleged insurrection,” attorney Geoffrey Blue wrote in a court filing on Monday Colorado.
“The Fourteenth Amendment applies to someone who ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion,’ not to someone who merely ‘incited’ some action,” he added.
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Former President Donald Trump responded Monday to Democrats’ attempts to ban him from the 2024 presidential primaries, saying the U.S. Constitution protects him. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Efforts have been made in Colorado, California, Georgia, Florida and elsewhere to get Trump off the ballot, though legal experts say they are likely to fail.
Trump’s lawyers filed a motion Friday to dismiss the Colorado effort. It cites the state’s anti-SLAPP law, which protects people from lawsuits that harass them for conduct protected by the First Amendment.
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Denver District Judge Sarah B. Wallace has scheduled a hearing on the motion for Oct. 13. A hearing on constitutional issues will take place on October 30. It will be the first time an effort to remove Trump’s name from the ballot has been debated. in public hearing.
Efforts have been made in Colorado, California, Georgia, Florida and elsewhere to get Trump off the ballot, though legal experts say they are likely to fail. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Trump’s opponents argue that his candidacy violates the 14th Amendment clause that bans candidates who “engage in insurrection or rebellion.” Civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman, an ex-convict who brought the case in California, points to Trump’s statements around Jan. 6 and the 2020 election as evidence of support for such an insurrection.
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“There is only one issue that may need to be litigated, and that issue is whether Trump is guilty of insurrection or rebellion,” Yagman told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “I think the answer to that question for anyone who has sight is that he did.”
Trump’s opponents argue that his candidacy violates the 14th Amendment clause that bans candidates who “engage in insurrection or rebellion.” (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Some legal experts have argued that the 14th Amendment cannot be used against Trump. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said there are “good-faith arguments in favor of this claim,” but he sees the theory as “not just questionable but dangerous.”
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“The amendment was written to target those who engage in actual insurrection that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths,” Turley said. “Proponents would expand the reference to ‘insurrection or rebellion’ to include unsupported claims and challenges regarding election fraud.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering national politics and major news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
