Louisiana Woman Suing to Keep Trump Off March Presidential Ballot

Baton Rouge, LA (KPEL News) - A Louisiana woman is suing to keep former President Donald Trump off the March Presidential Primary Ballot. He is currently the Republican front-runner in the race. Louisiana is the seventh state where Trump's eligibility to run is coming into question.

Fox 8 in New Orleans reports that the lawsuit to disqualify the former president was filed in the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge on December 22. Ashley Reeb of Chalmette confirmed to WVUE that she did submit the petition which claims:

Both Trump’s actions (engaging in insurrection) as well as his inaction (giving aid and comfort to insurrectionists) on Jan. 6, 2021, disqualify him from holding any office of/under the United States.

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin is named in the suit to force him to disqualify Trump because of his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. At least five people died and many others were injured that day when supporters of the then-President protested the election of President Joe Biden.

Reeb's lawsuit mirrors others filed in at least five other states under the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment.

On December 19, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to disqualify Trump from the election based on the amendment's 3rd section which reads:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The Colorado high court's ruling has been stayed until January 4, 2024, as Trump's campaign has notified them it will be requesting an opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Conversely, the Michigan Supreme Court, citing a difference in their state laws versus Colorado's, decided Wednesday, December 27, 2023, not to remove Trump from the ballot.

Similar legal efforts to disqualify the former president from the early 2024 ballots are pending in Texas, and Nevada.

Alaska television station KTUU reported Tuesday that 2024 Republican presidential candidate John Anthony Castro has asked the United States District Court of Alaska to rule that Trump is ineligible to run on the state's presidential ballot.

In Maine, where the Secretary of State is allowed to weigh in, the Trump campaign issued a letter Wednesday asking the woman who holds the office to recuse herself. Following the Congressional hearings into Trump's role in the January 6 riot, Secretary Shenna Bellows wrote on Twitter (now X) that:

57 Senators including King & Collins found Trump guilty. That's short of impeachment but nevertheless an indictment. The insurrectionists failed, and democracy prevailed.

Following the Colorado ruling, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins both took to the social media platform to express their disapproval of the ruling.

Johnson called the decision a "thinly veiled partisan attack."

Higgins posted following the Colorado ruling and then again on December 22, the day the Louisiana lawsuit was filed.