Wyoming became the latest state to reject a court challenge against former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to be on its ballot. A county judge’s decision marks the latest court victory for the former president ahead of the planned U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Trump’s eligibility for the ballot in Colorado.
Albany County, Wyoming Judge Misha Westby dismissed an effort to remove the former president from the state. The lawsuit accused Trump of being ineligible due to the ‘insurrection’ clause of the 14th Amendment.
The same suit also accused Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) of being ineligible for the same reason.
The filing argued that the former president and senator should not appear on state ballots “unless Congress removes such disability by a vote of two-thirds of each House.”
The judge’s decision was applauded by Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who was the defendant in the case. He said that he was “extremely pleased” by the decision. He called the lawsuit “outrageously wrong and repugnant.”
Other states have also rejected challenges to the former president’s ability to appear on the ballot. The Minnesota Supreme Court determined that Trump could appear on its Republican primary election ballot.
Furthermore, the attorneys general of 27 states sent a legal filing supporting Trump’s case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court will likely decide next month on whether or not the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to strip Trump from the GOP primary ballot was constitutional.
“We see Democrats attempting to remove President Trump from the ballot. We saw this in Colorado and Maine. That is a suppression of the American people and the American people's ability to cast their ballots this November, so it's Democrats that are a threat to democracy.” on… pic.twitter.com/kjuNKBYsaT
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 7, 2024
The Supreme Court will likely be the final arbiter on the issue. Should the court decide that states can remove candidates from the ballot, multiple states have floated the idea of not allowing President Joe Biden on the ballot, citing issues at the southern border.
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said that he did not want to play “tit-for-tat” on the issue, but that if Trump is removed from the ballot, then Biden may receive the same treatment.
“Whatever the rules are applied to us, we’re going to fight back and apply the rules the other way,” the governor said. “I do think the U.S. Supreme Court is going to have to take the case. I do think they’re going to have to rein this in because I just think, if you look at it, it just becomes too different.”
