California Now Pushing To Block Trump From 2024 Primary Ballot

California’s Lieutenant Governor, Eleni Kounalakis, has officially requested the state’s Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, to explore legal avenues for removing former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.

The request on Wednesday cites Tuesday’s Colorado Supreme Court ruling as a precedent. The ruling found Trump ineligible for Colorado’s ballot due to his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol incident, invoking the disqualification clause under section three of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In her letter Kounalakis stated that this is not about political gamesmanship but about upholding the sanctity of the constitution and democracy.

Source is POLITICO's California Bureau Chief: https://t.co/HQDC1heRnH

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“I am prompted by the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent ruling that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot as a Presidential Candidate due to his role in inciting an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” she wrote.

“This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy.” She urged Secretary Weber to make a decision before the announcement of the certified list of candidates for the March 5, 2024, primary election, due next week.

The move has drawn criticism from conservative circles, who view it as a partisan attempt to manipulate electoral processes and silence political opposition.

The reference to conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch in the Colorado ruling is seen as a strategic move to lend bipartisan credibility to the decision. However, state-level decisions should not dictate national electoral eligibility, especially for a figure as prominent as a former president.

The development raises significant legal and constitutional questions. Can a state unilaterally declare a presidential candidate ineligible based on its interpretation of federal constitutional provisions? Furthermore, does this move undermine the democratic principle of letting voters decide their candidates? This could dangerously set a precedent for other states and deepen the political divide in an already polarized nation.

After successfully navigating the majority of his ballot access lawsuits across the country, Trump will now tango with more anti-Trump forces in yet another state.

Spectrum News reports that Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is expected to rule Friday whether or not the former president and GOP frontrunner is eligible for the state’s Republican primary election on March 5th, 2024. Opponents have charged Trump is disqualified from running under an insurrectionist clause in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Trump was previously undefeated across more than half a dozen ballot access challenges, with most courts or secretaries of state ruling that plaintiffs, including a long-shot presidential candidate, did not have the standing to bring the suits.

The Maine suit is brought in part by Democrat Ethan Strimling, former Mayor of the ultra-progressive Portland, and Republican former state Sen. Kimberly Rosen. They, like plaintiffs in Colorado, argue that the president’s words and actions around January 6th, 2021 amounted to encouraging an insurrection against Congress during procedures to certify President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.

Secretary Bellows said she is expected to give her final decision Friday, though she emphasized that it is not a hard deadline according to her office.