A group of voters wanted Donald Trump banned from participating in the presidential primaries in Minnesota because of his role in the storming of the Capitol in January 2021. A court rejected this – with a not unimportant “but”.
Donald Trump can breathe a sigh of relief again. His opponents’ attempt to exclude him from the 2024 presidential primaries in the state of Minnesota has failed. The state Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that there was no legal basis for this.
A group of voters had argued that the former president should not run based on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. This stipulates that no one may hold public office if he or she has taken part in an “insurrection or insurrection” against the Constitution after taking an oath to defend it. Trump’s opponents argued that because of his role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the Republican should not run for the White House again.
Trump could possibly be barred from taking part in the presidential election
The Minnesota Supreme Court has now ruled that Trump cannot be barred from participating in his Republican Party’s presidential primaries. “There is no state statute that prohibits a major political party from placing on the presidential primary ballot a candidate who is ineligible to hold office,” Judge Natalie Hudson wrote.
However, the court appeared open to considering a request to exclude Trump from the November 2024 presidential election in Minnesota if he is actually nominated by his Republican Party.
According to media reports, depending on the outcome of the trial, the Trump Organization could, among other things, be forced to hand over control of Trump’s 202 meter high business card to a court-appointed receiver.
The 58-story high-rise building, built in the early 1980s, is explicitly mentioned in the indictment. Trump himself lived in his tower, in a three-story penthouse, for more than 20 years. His company is said to have multiplied the value of the skyscraper on Fifth Avenue several times for flimsy reasons – including by stating that Trump’s apartment was almost three times larger than it actually was. In 2015, the organization estimated the value of its headquarters at $327 million – a figure the prosecution describes as “absurd.”
Efforts are currently underway in several US states to exclude Trump from the elections. It is controversial among lawyers to what extent the 14th Amendment, passed between the northern and southern states after the American Civil War, can be used. The question could ultimately end up before the US Supreme Court, where the conservative camp has a clear majority of six of the nine constitutional judges.
Trump is the overwhelming favorite in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and is leading polls by a large margin. If the 77-year-old right-wing populist wins the primaries starting in mid-January in the state of Iowa, he would run against incumbent Joe Biden of the Democratic Party in the presidential election on November 5, 2024.