The Wisconsin Election Commission shot down an effort to remove Donald Trump from the primary ballot under 14th Amendment considerations that have worked so far in two other states.
A Madison brewery owner filed a complaint with the commission on Thursday citing Trump's actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, riots as insurrection, ergo rendering Trump ineligible to be president. The panel dismissed the complaint later in the day "without consideration" under a previous state ruling that said "it would be nonsensical to have WEC adjudicate a claim against itself."
"The complaint was disposed of without consideration by the Commission. It is the position of the Commission that a complaint against the Commission, against Commissioners in their official capacities, or against Commission staff, warrants an ethical recusal by the body," WEC Public Information Officer Riley Vetterkind said in an email statement to media outlets.
Trump was first removed from the Colorado ballot by the Colorado Supreme Court but will remain on the ballot while the appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court is heard. Then Thursday, the Maine secretary of state removed Trump from the ballot there under 14th Amendment pretenses.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday that its secretary of state does not have the authority to determine ballot eligibility using the insurrection clause.
In fact, neither do state courts. Constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax last week that only Congress gets to define insurrection.
"What is an insurrection? It's not defined, and it should be defined. And only Congress can define it. But the Colorado Supreme Court has no jurisdiction under Section 5 to have anything to say about this constitutional provision," Dershowitz said.
But that didn't stop Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows from declaring Trump ineligible, saying, "I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment."
"We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Bellows suspended her ruling until Maine courts rule on Trump's appeal.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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