Louisiana voter files 'long shot' lawsuit to exclude Trump from state ballot

After the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on December 19 that frontrunner Donald Trump is disqualified from Colorado's GOP presidential primary ballot, the Michigan Supreme Court reached a different conclusion eight days later and decided that the former president can remain on the ballot in that state.

Now, Louisiana voter Ashley Reeb, according to WVUE-TV Fox 8 in New Orleans, has filed a lawsuit in the hopes of getting Trump excluded from that state's ballot.

At issue in these states is an argument that Trump is disqualified from running for president again based on Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which states that an "officer" who has engaged in "insurrection" is excluded from running for office. The Colorado Supreme Court said "yes," but its Michigan counterpart said "no" —and it remains to be seen what will happen in deeply Republican Louisiana.

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Robert Collins, a political analyst at Dillard University in Louisiana, considers Reeb's effort "a very long shot."

Collins told WVUE, "It might be a different situation if he had been criminally convicted in a court of law of insurrection. To make an interpretation that a president had engaged in insurrection, and to remove him from the ballot, I think most judges ideologically are just not there."

But Collins notes that the matter could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"If the Supreme Court upholds the Colorado case," Collins told WVUE, "it's open season for these filings. And you're going to see one in every state."

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Read WVUE-TV Fox 8's full report at this link.