With the state presidential primary approaching in March, the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking to disqualify former President Donald J. Trump from holding office again under the 14th Amendment, used after the Civil War to keep Confederates out of government. The New York Times reported that justices did not rule on the merits of the petitioners’ constitutional argument: that Mr. Trump’s actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol amounted to “engaging in insurrection” against the Constitution after taking an oath to support it.
A judge in Colorado recently presided over a five-day hearing on a similar case there. In Minnesota, as with a recent decision in New Hampshire, the petition was dismissed on procedural grounds. Winning a state primary “does not place the person on a general election ballot as a as a candidate for president of the United States,” the court wrote , emphasizing that petitioners could file the same claims again later, if Trump wins the Republican nomination.