Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said that while he didn’t want to do it, he had to remind people of how “severe” the situation is.
A top Republican official in Missouri is threatening to remove President Joe Biden from appearing on the ballot as retaliation for the determination in two other states that Donald Trump doesn’t qualify because he “engaged in insurrection.”
“What has happened in Colorado & Maine is disgraceful & undermines our republic,” Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote on the social media site X on Friday. “While I expect the Supreme Court to overturn this, if not, Secretaries of State will step in & ensure the new legal standard for @realDonaldTrump applies equally to @JoeBiden!”
Ashcroft’s post came shortly after the Supreme Court agreed to review a decision by Colorado’s high court that found Trump could be barred from the state’s primary ballot because of his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The big distinction here would be that everyone else disqualified under Section 3 was a public officer in a major political organization (the CSA) who was in open war with the US. No question of fact whatsoever.
While Trump was too much of a wuss to openly lead his insurrection himself, so some government entity should probably be responsible for determining whether or not section 3 applies, and what standard they have to meet to do so. There are probably good arguments why qualification for a federal office isn’t properly decided by a state judge or official.
That is not a distinction actually made by section 3. Oath breakers are disqualified, not rebels per se.
State elections officials already do that for things like age, residency requirements, etc. It’s part of federalism that the state governments administer federal elections.