In historic decisions, two states have issued orders removing former president Donald Trump from their primary ballots after deciding he is ineligible to run for office because of his actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The unprecedented rulings are part of a nationwide push by a mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents to block Trump from running again under Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prohibits from office those who engage in insurrection after swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution.
The top courts in Michigan, Minnesota and Oregon have allowed Trump to remain on the ballot. And officials in California and a few other states have confirmed, without being pushed to do so by a legal challenge, that Trump can be on the primary ballot. Several lawsuits have been filed in other states — many of them by John Anthony Castro, a long-shot Republican candidate for president — but have thus far had no success.