Court Fights Invoking ‘Insurrection Clause’ Against Trump

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Efforts to use the Constitution’s “insurrection” clause to prevent former President Donald Trump from running again for the White House are turning to Minnesota with oral arguments before the state Supreme Court. Thursday’s hearing will unfold as a similar case plays out in Colorado. Both cases argue that Trump is disqualified from running under a Civil War-era section of the 14th Amendment that bans anyone from higher office who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it. Trump’s lawyers argue that while the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol devolved into a riot, it was not an insurrection in the constitutional sense.