Michigan Voters Challenge Trump’s Ballot Eligibility Under 14.3 Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause

Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, known as the Disqualification Clause, provides: “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress. . . who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” The purpose of the Disqualification Clause, passed in the wake of the Civil War, was to protect the country.

Trump’s involvement in the coordinated and violent attack on the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the election results on January 6, 2021, disqualifies him from holding future public office. State election officials do not need permission from Congress to enforce this, just as they do not need it to enforce the U.S. constitution in general.

On September 29, 2023, Free Speech For People, on behalf of a diverse group of Michigan voters, filed a legal challenge to Donald Trump’s candidacy.

The petition details multiple actions Trump took in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, including widespread claims of election fraud and repeatedly urging former Vice President Mike Pence to reject certification of the results before and during the January 6th attack. He incited his supporters, many of them armed, to march the Capitol and “fight like hell.” Once he was prevented from engaging in the attack himself, he refused to call off his supporters, as they violently attacked members of the Capitol Police. Congress, over a dozen federal judges, Trump’s own Department of Justice, and his personal defense lawyer characterized the attack as an insurrection. Judges hearing January 6-related cases have repeatedly stated that Trump was responsible for this insurrection.

In parallel with but separately from this litigation, Free Speech For People and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund are co-leading a national campaign to ensure that election officials across the country follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Read the press release

Read the complaint

In 2022, Free Speech For People filed similar challenges against Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and former North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn, for their roles in the January 6th insurrection.

Although those challenges did not result in disqualification (Cawthorn’s because he lost his primary; Greene’s because the judge found insufficient factual evidence that she, personally, had engaged in the insurrection), they set important legal precedent for this challenge, including: that states have legal authority to adjudicate Section 3 challenges; that state processes for adjudicating Section 3 challenges do not violate a candidate’s constitutional rights; that no prior criminal conviction is required under Section 3 challenge; that words can constitute engaging in insurrection; and that an 1872 congressional amnesty for ex-Confederates does not apply to January 6.

On September 6, 2022, Judge Francis J. Matthew of New Mexico’s First District permanently enjoined Otero County Commissioner and “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin from holding office under the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.