\n<\/aside>\nDemocratic secretaries of state in pivotal swing states like Arizona and Michigan, have largely been skeptical about trying to exert that authority though. But some of their counterparts have made efforts to remove Trump around the theory that secretaries of states can unilaterally disqualify him on constitutional grounds.<\/p>\n
Weber hasn\u2019t taken a definitive stance.<\/p>\n
Her office has repeatedly said she is reviewing the issue. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re monitoring the legal cases here and in other states,\u201d Joe Kocurek, Weber\u2019s press secretary, told POLITICO.<\/p>\n
California is one of several states where Democrats have attempted to disqualify Trump on the basis that he incited an insurrection when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol nearly three years ago. If Trump prevails and becomes the Republican nominee, Democrats could try again on the November ballot.<\/p>\n
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung previously told POLITICO that the campaign to remove the former president from the ballot was a \u201cpolitical attack\u201d that was \u201cstretching the law beyond recognition.\u201d Any effort to remove Trump here would surely be challenged in court.<\/p>\n
All of the efforts could ultimately be moot because of the conservative control of the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
What about the court route?<\/h3>\n Lawsuits have been filed in about a half-dozen states, California included, aiming to force secretaries of state to remove Trump from primary ballots. The Colorado Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an appeal to a lower court ruling on the issue. The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a similar lawsuit this month.<\/p>\n
But that might not be the only route: Eleven Democrats in the California Assembly, led by Assemblymember Evan Low, sent state Attorney General Rob Bonta a letter last month urging him to use his authority to seek an expedited state court ruling.<\/p>\n
Low said lawmakers are still urging Bonta to act because Trump \u201ccontinues to be a clear and present danger to free and fair elections in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approach that Low and his co-signers have pitched is unique because Bonta could expedite the court process. As California\u2019s top lawyer, he has automatic standing to proactively ask a court for declaratory relief, a process where a judge can quickly rule on an unresolved legal question.<\/p>\n
Lawsuits seeking to knock Trump off the ballot have also been filed in New Mexico and New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
Bonta hasn\u2019t publicly responded to the lawmakers\u2019 request. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.<\/p>\n
Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA\u2019s School of Law, said that if the issue isn\u2019t resolved by the courts now it could easily come back after the primary.<\/p>\n
One hypothetical is that Democrats could win control of the House in 2024 and try to block certification of a second Trump presidency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you think of it on the merits, the sooner this is resolved the better,\u201d Hasen said. \u201cIt creates a potential for social upheaval.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO\u2019s California Playbook newsletter.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Could Weber act alone? One big question looming over the push to remove Trump from the ballot is the question of who has the authority. Can the top elections officials in each state act unilaterally? Democratic secretaries of state in pivotal swing states like Arizona and Michigan, have largely been skeptical about trying to exert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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