The Oregon supreme court declined to hear the case wanting to keep former president Donald Trump off the state’s 2024 primary ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
The liberal-leaning court allowed Trump to appear on the ballot for now until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether the former president violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment by allegedly inciting an insurrection on January 6, 2021, during his last days in office.
“Today, the Oregon Supreme Court declined to hear, for now, a challenge by five Oregon voters (relators) seeking to preclude Donald J. Trump from appearing on the Oregon 2024 Republican primary and general election ballots,” the court said in a media release on Friday.
Trump finds himself in the midst of legal battles across several states attempting to remove him from the ballot under the 14th Amendment’s Section 3, which forbids anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from seeking public office. Colorado and Maine disqualified him from their respective ballots in December, up until the Supreme Court took the Colorado case last Friday.
Shortly after the Court took up the first ballot-removal decision, Democratic Colorado secretary of state Jena Griswold announced that the state’s primary ballot was certified, with Trump’s name appearing on the list of candidates. The Maine decision is on hold while the appeals process continues, meaning Trump remains on the ballot in the Pine Tree State for now.
As of Friday, additional challenges to Trump’s ballot eligibility remain unresolved in the following 16 states: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Alaska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
“Because a decision by the United States Supreme Court regarding the Fourteenth Amendment issue may resolve one or more contentions that relators make in the Oregon proceeding,” the court added, “the Oregon Supreme Court denied their petition for mandamus, by order, but without prejudice to their ability to file a new petition seeking resolution of any issue that may remain following a decision by the United States Supreme Court.”
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Colorado case on February 8, providing ample time for both parties to submit amicus briefs in support of their opinions. The Oregon supreme court’s decision to reconsider the five relators’ case depends on the Court’s decision, which will likely conclude that Trump is eligible to appear on the Colorado ballot, effectively discouraging other states from pursuing similar rulings.
Oregon secretary of state LaVonne Griffin-Valade, a Democrat, has until March 21 to finalize the list of candidates that will appear on the state’s presidential primary ballots. Oregon’s primary election will be held on May 21.
“Today’s decision in Oregon was the correct one,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in praise of the ruling on Friday. “President Trump urges the swift dismissal of all remaining, bad-faith, election interference 14th Amendment ballot challenges.”