WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) have filed an amicus brief in a Minnesota lawsuit to stop Democrat groups from kicking Donald Trump off the Presidential ballot.
The leaders of the RNC, NRSC, and NRCC released the following statements.
"The 2024 Republican presidential candidate will be decided by Republican voters, not courts or government officials. Disqualifying candidates from the ballot based on crimes they haven’t been charged with would set a destructive precedent for future elections and is purely political. Republicans are united in pushing back against this dangerous overreach.” – RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel
“We reject any attempts by outside actors to bar the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination from participating in our party’s primary. Throughout our history, these decisions have been made at the ballot box, and this blatant attempt to rob Republican primary voters of their right to select the Republican presidential nominee would do lasting damage to our elections for years to come.” – NRSC Chairman Steve Daines
“This is an obvious partisan attempt to try to usurp the will of the voters through the courts that will set a bad precedent with ramifications beyond this case. Republicans are united in allowing the will of the voters to prevail.” – NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson
Background
- The RNC is filing an amicus brief in this Minnesota lawsuit alongside the NRSC and NRCC because the Republican presidential candidate should be decided by Republican voters, not courts or government officials.
- The opinions of courts and government bureaucrats should not outweigh the voice of the Republican electorate as to who the Republican candidate should be. This is the kind of election interference that drives down faith in elections.
- Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment was meant to exclude ex-Confederates from occupying office after the Civil War. There are numerous legal arguments for why it does not apply to Donald Trump. Using the Fourteenth Amendment in this way is just the latest episode of partisan “lawfare” aimed at Donald Trump.
- Some prominent Democrats have already gone on the record stating that election officials do not have unilateral authority to exclude candidates from the ballot pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, including Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a Washington Post op-ed.
- The RNC, NRSC, and NRCC have a strong record of engaging in legal actions that promote transparency and fairness in elections. This is just another example of Republicans going to court to defend American voters.
- While the RNC does not support any one Republican candidate, we would extend this same defense to any other member of the field. The issue of disqualification under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment has also come up in elections for other offices, and the RNC’s participation in this lawsuit will have wider effects.
- Whichever candidate Republicans nominate would be a better president than Joe Biden. It is up to voters to make that decision.
- The RNC and its partners will continue supporting its field of Republican candidates, pushing back on election interference, and empowering Republican voters to make their own decisions at the ballot box.
Click here for a copy of the filing.
