Donald Trump will remain on ballot, Mass. Commission says – Boston.com
By Annie Jonas
Former President Donald Trump will remain on the Massachusetts Republican presidential primary ballot, after a state board dismissed a challenge that alleged Trump was ineligible to appear due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission on Monday denied the challenge, citing a lack of jurisdiction on the matter.
“The Commission, having reviewed the materials submitted, has determined that the State Ballot Law Commission does not have jurisdiction over the matters presented,” the Commission wrote in their decision.
The challengers alleged that the former president is ineligible to appear on the ballot for the primary, which is slated for March 5, because “he engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution, after taking the oath of office as president to support the Constitution.”
One of the advocates behind the legal challenge told the Boston Globe that they plan to appeal the Commission’s decision to the state Supreme Judicial Court.
“We believe the commission erred in its interpretation of Massachusetts election laws when it held it did not have jurisdiction to rule on this dispute,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor attorney, told the Globe in a statement.
The Massachusetts challenge followed dozens of similar ones in other states, such as in Maine and Colorado, that argued Trump is ineligible to serve in the White House under Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
When asked how they felt about the initial court rulings in Colorado and Maine, Boston.com readers were nearly split equally on the issue. Of the 263 respondents to our poll, 50% said they did not agree with the rulings to bar Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment, with 49% approving of the decisions.
“Since it is a federal election, I believe it is a matter for the Supreme Court to decide, not up to the individual states,” said reader Donna from Hopedale, who voted that did not agree with the rulings.
But others, like D.D. from Somerville, agreed with the rulings, arguing “This is as clear a case of what that amendment was created for as has been seen since the amendment was written. No, [Trump] shouldn’t be on the ballot.”
Both decisions in Maine and Colorado remain on hold. Trump appealed the Colorado ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, and a Maine judge stayed any action on an appeal of the secretary’s decision to allow time for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the Colorado case. The justices will hear arguments on Feb. 8.
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