179 GOP Lawmakers Sign SCOTUS Brief to Keep Trump on Ballots

Two-thirds of the Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — have signed on to an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to keep Republican front-runner Donald Trump on the 2024 presidential ballot.

Led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, 179 of the 269 congressional GOP lawmakers signed on to the brief filed Thursday, “in support of Petitioner Donald J. Trump.”

“In polarized times, it is easy to cast an opponent’s rhetoric about the outcome of elections as encouraging others to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power,” the 37-page brief read.

Seven Republican senators declined to sign the brief: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Steve Daines of Montana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Todd Young of Indiana.

At issue is the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Trump from the primary ballot, based on its finding that he violated the “Insurrection Clause” of the Constitution. However, the brief states that it’s the role of Congress to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits candidates from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”

Further, the lawmakers wrote that the Colorado Supreme Court attempted to circumvent the role of Congress, which requires a two-thirds majority vote of both houses to find a candidate ineligible at the federal level.

“As members of Congress [we] have a strong interest in vindicating and protecting the role of Congress in the context of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the brief read.

The Supreme Court will begin holding oral arguments on Feb. 8.

Pending the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump will remain on the primary ballots for both Colorado and Maine, where Secretary of State Shenna Bellows singlehandedly decided that Trump should be removed from the ballot. A Maine judge on Wednesday ordered Bellows to put her decision on hold until the Supreme Court rules in the Colorado case. Both states’ primaries are on Super Tuesday, which is March 5.

Other states have tried but failed to remove Trump from their ballots under the same provision: New Hampshire, Oregon, Michigan, and Minnesota.