Idaho seeks clarity in Trump ballot issue from SCOTUS

BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —On Thursday the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments about former President Trump and his being removed from the ballot in two states.

Maine and Colorado have removed Trump from the ballot citing Article Three of the 14th Amendment that states anyone who has taken an oath of office from holding public office if they’ve engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.

Several secretaries of state, including Idaho’s Phil McGrane have filed an amicus brief in the matter. He’ll be in Washington DC with other secretaries of state in a previously planned meeting and says he hopes to make it over to hear the arguments.

McGrane says they’ve had calls from around the country about removing the former president and even current President Joe Biden.

“This is a unique situation and something that having 50 different states come up with solutions doesn’t make sense. In particular we asked the court not to hand it back to each of the secretaries to make independent decisions because it’s not helpful for the process or for our country to have one secretary do one thing, another do a different thing. It would be more polarizing than anything else and in this environment, we don’t need more polarization.”

Secretary McGrane says because Idaho is holding party caucuses versus a presidential primary, he won’t be faced with the removal issue until at least august.

And he expects a resolution by that point from SCOTUS.

“We are really looking for guidance from the supreme court on what applies and what we do about it. Personally, my view is democracy is all about giving people a voice and having a secretary of state remove one of those choices just takes so many voters voice away that this is not the best solution for our country. I think that’s where this will end up ultimately, but we need to see it go through the court process.”

Oral arguments begin at 10 am eastern time Thursday and we will follow what happens and have update as we know them.

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