'Constitutionally unacceptable': GOP lawyer challenges Trump’s eligibility in battleground state

State level courts in North Carolina are set to decide former President Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 Republican ballot after a new legal challenge filed by a retired GOP lawyer.

According to WRAL, lawyer Brian Martin — who was a top legal counsel in both the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations — is filing an appeal to election officials' recent decision to allow Trump's name to appear on the North Carolina GOP primary ballot in March. Martin's appeal argues that supporters of the former president may have their rights denied if they cast a "wasted" vote for a candidate who could be ruled ineligible to hold the office of president.

"The voters in the Republican primary on March 5, 2024, have a right to choose from constitutionally eligible candidates," the filing read. "If one were to vote for Donald Trump, and he is not eligible to hold the office of president, their vote will not count. Their vote will be a wasted vote, will not play a part in the selection of the next president, and such a result in constitutionally unacceptable."

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Martin's filing has angered other GOP officials in the Tar Heel State. North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore (R) — who is currently running for the US House of Representatives in 2024 — said one of his top priorities when the state legislature re-convenes in January is passing a bill preventing the state from removing Trump's name from the ballot.

"We think the law should be pretty clear that President Trump will be on the ballot," Moore told WRAL.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) is going a step further, telling the outlet he was considering filing a bill that would take federal funding away from states that blocked Trump from their own respective GOP primary ballots.

The filing comes on the heels of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows removing Trump from her state's primary ballot, saying that the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol constituted an insurrection, and that the former president violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution by supporting it. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is expected to weigh in on that decision as well as that of the Colorado supreme court, which similarly disqualified Trump based on the insurrection clause.

READ MORE: Here's everything you need to know about how the Constitution's insurrection clause affects Trump