Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) announced Wednesday that Arizona law prohibits the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment from being used to keep former President Donald Trump off the presidential ballot.
Legal scholars from both the left and right have raised the idea that the Fourteenth Amendment would disqualify Trump from appearing on any ballots in 2024. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment says public officials are not eligible to hold office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States.
On Tuesday, Fontes openly flirted with the idea, saying his office is taking these arguments “very seriously.”
“We have to have a final certification of eligible candidates [for the primary ballot] by Dec. 14 for Arizona’s presidential preference election,” Fontes told NBC News. “And because this will ultimately end up in court, we are taking this very seriously.”
Fontes also urged proponents of the idea to “start swinging” to get the legal battle into the judicial system swiftly.
“If there are people who want to fight this out, they need to start swinging, because I have an election to run,” he said.
However, Fontes changed his tune on Wednesday, telling an Arizona-based podcast that state law prohibits the Fourteenth Amendment from being used against Trump.
“Now, the Arizona Supreme Court said that because there’s no statutory process in federal law to enforce Section 3 of the 14th amendment, you can’t enforce it,” Fontes said.
Still, the Democrat secretary of state called the state supreme court’s precedent “stupid.”
“That’s what the Arizona Supreme Court said, so that’s the state of the law in Arizona. Now, do I agree with that? No, that’s stupid,” he said. “What I’m saying is I’m going to follow the law. And the law in Arizona is what the law in Arizona is. Whether I like it or not, is irrelevant.”
Fontes’s backtracking came days after New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (R) had a similar change of heart.
As Breitbart News reported:
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan told NBC News on Monday he is “not seeking to remove any names” from the Republican primary ballot after Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk urged his supporters to call Scanlan’s office following reports Scanlan was weighing using the Fourteenth Amendment to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot.
An August poll found that Trump leads President Joe Biden in a hypothetical matchup and enjoys a commanding 47-point advantage over his GOP primary challengers in Arizona.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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