A Washington judge ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump can be listed on state presidential primary ballots after he encouraged supporters to stage an insurrection in his last days in the Oval Office.
Eight residents of Kitsap County, near Seattle, filed a lawsuit last week to remove Trump from the presidential ballot in Washington state. The suit is similar to those seen in more than 30 other states aiming to keep Trump off the ballot, according to a count by The New York Times.
The Kitsap County Superior Court heard the case Tuesday, but the judge there said the case should instead be heard in Olympia, Washington. After hearing arguments on Thursday, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Mary Sue Wilson dismissed the case. Wilson said the secretary of state had acted “consistent with his duties” by placing Trump on the state primary ballot.
“An order directing the secretary of state to take different action, an order from this court, is simply not supported by the statutes and not supported by the affidavit of the electors,” Wilson said.
The decision comes around two months before Washington’s Republican primary that’s scheduled for March 12. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) said in a statement that the ballots must be printed “weeks” ahead of time.
“I look forward to having this question resolved in a timely fashion,” he said.
So far, only two states have said Trump could be barred from primary ballots: Colorado and Maine. Colorado’s case will be heard by the Supreme Court next month, while a Maine judge has delayed making a decision until the Supreme Court decides in the Colorado case.
Trump is far and away the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, having already swept the Iowa caucuses.
By inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, however, Trump’s critics say he violated the 14th Amendment, which contains a clause prohibiting any “officer of the United States” from holding office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
Trump had urged his supporters to “make your voices heard” at the Capitol, where Congress was meeting at the time to officially certify that Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election.
“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” the former president said at a rally preceding the deadly riot.
Critics of the movement to bar Trump from primary ballots argue it is undemocratic and that voters should have their say, while proponents say the language of the Constitution is clear.