A group of voters from Massachusetts, including a former Boston mayor, filed an official objection to former President Donald Trump's inclusion on the ballot, using the same 14th Amendment argument used to push him off the ballot in other states.
The complaint was organized by the group Free Speech for People, which helped arrange similar petitions in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon. It was sent to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin and relies on the same argument made in Colorado and Maine that Trump's actions concerning the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 violated his oath of office and the 14th Amendment's "insurrection clause," which prohibits anyone who assists in an insurrection against the U.S. from holding public office.
"Donald Trump violated his oath of office and incited a violent insurrection that attacked the U.S. Capitol, threatened the assassination of the Vice President and congressional leaders, and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation's history," Ron Fein, Free Speech for People's legal director, said in a statement.
"Our predecessors understood that oath-breaking insurrectionists will do it again, and worse, if allowed back into power, so they enacted the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause to protect the republic from people like Trump," Fein added. "Trump is legally barred from the ballot and election officials must follow this constitutional mandate."
The Massachusetts complaint was signed by five voters, including former Boston Mayor Kim Janey, Harvard University Law School professor emeritus Elizabeth Bartholet, and Boston College Law School associate dean Mark Brodin.
The petition was filed on their behalf by attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who unsuccessfully ran for Massachusetts attorney general as a Democrat in 2022.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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