CAITLIN SIEVERS
Arizona Mirror
Lawsuits have been filed in three states so far to attempt to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot in the 2024 presidential election, but at this point, it’s unclear if a suit filed in Arizona will follow.
The suits, including one filed in neighboring Colorado earlier this week, argue that a provision of the 14th Amendment that bans candidates who have engaged in insurrection prohibits Trump from appearing on the ballot.
The amendment, adopted following the Civil War, was intended to ban Confederate leaders from being elected to positions of power.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, told KTAR last week that the law was conflicting on this issue. The Arizona Supreme Court decided last year that the constitutional provision didn’t matter because there is no corresponding federal statute to enforce it. But Fontes noted that the Constitution’s supremacy clause says that constitutional provisions outweigh any decisions made at the state level.
Fontes told the radio station that he was consulting with staff, as well as other legal experts, to decide how to determine whether Trump is eligible for presidential candidacy under the provisions of the 14th Amendment.
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