Massachusetts’ Ballot Law Commission met Thursday to hear arguments on whether former President Donald Trump should be on the state’s Presidential Primary ballot, but the commission's members aren't sure they have the power to remove him.
Free Speech for People and a Massachusetts-based civil rights firm argued Trump should be disqualified, saying he violated the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause with his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. They said the commission is qualified to remove him from the ballot.
“It is the job of this commission to hear objections to the legality of such a placement of candidates on the ballot,” Shannon Liss-Riordan said. “And we have reviewed a number of prior decisions by this commission which have heard constitutional challenges to such ballots.”
Marc Salinas, a lawyer for the former president and the Massachusetts Republican Party, said it's too soon to make a ruling.
“There’s no legal basis to deny somebody access to the ballot purely on the issue of disqualification,” Salinas said. “And it’s not until they are nominated that the jurisdiction is conferred on this commission.”
The two sides have until the end of day Friday to file any other responses before the commission meets again to decide if it has authority to consider the challenge.