Another state now considering 14th Amendment challenge to Trump’s ballot eligibility

Former President Donald Trump's legal team will soon have to make their case for Trump to be an eligible candidate on the 2024 ballot in yet another state.

On Friday, CNN reporter Marshall Cohen tweeted that the Massachusetts Ballot Commission has announced a meeting next Thursday to weigh a 14th Amendment challenge to the former president's candidacy in 2024.

"They can either dismiss the challenge OR greenlight a future hearing on the merits," Cohen posted to his official X (formerly Twitter) account.

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With this challenge, Massachusetts becomes the latest state to consider an unprecedented challenge to a former president of the United States' legal standing to hold the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment (also known as the insurrection clause). Both Colorado and Maine have already disqualified Trump based on the amendment's language, which states that no one can be eligible for any "civilian or military" federal office who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States, or who has "given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

The insurrection clause was originally written to prevent former Confederate soldiers and officers from holding influential positions in the US government following the Civil War. However, it fell by the wayside after 1872, when President Ulysses F. Grant (a former union general) granted broad amnesty to former Confederates. While it has been previously used in 2022 to disqualify a county official in New Mexico from appearing on the ballot after participated in the January 6 insurrection, it hasn't been used against a presidential candidate prior to Trump.

According to its website, the Massachusetts Ballot Commission is a division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office, and makes administrative decisions on which candidates are eligible for office on the ballot in Massachusetts. The commission's decision will be expected relatively soon, as Massachusetts' presidential primary takes place on March 5, with roughly a dozen other states and territories on Super Tuesday.

Click here to view Lawfare's full map of states weighing legal challenges to Trump's ballot eligibility.

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