Lawsuit seeks to declare Trump ineligible for Wisconsin ballot

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) — A new legal challenge has been filed seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from their primary ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Kirk Bangstad, owner of Minocqua Brewing Company, filed a lawsuit in Dane County Court Friday that argues the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause bans Trump from holding public office and therefore he shouldn’t appear on Wisconsin’s primary ballot.

Similar legal challenges have been largely unsuccessful. Colorado and Maine have disqualified the GOP frontrunner on their primary ballots, decisions Trump has appealed.

This week, Trump’s lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Colorado’s ruling and to vacate a decision by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows that removed him from the ballot.

It comes as the nation’s highest court is facing mounting pressure to settle the question of whether Trump is eligible to run again for the White House.

Howard Schweber, a political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, said he expects the court to decline Bangstad’s lawsuit and believes the Supreme Court will ultimately have the final say.   

“I expect the Wisconsin court to find any number of reasons to decline to grant, to strike Trump from the ballot for political reasons, as well as legal reasons,” Schweber said. “I think this will be told as the story of the moment when Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was buried.”

Last week, the Wisconsin Elections Commission rejected Bangstad’s complaint that also sought to disqualify Trump, largely due to the fact the commission does not decide who’s on the ballot.

That’s left up to the bipartisan Presidential Preference Selection Committee who agreed this week to include six Republican presidential candidates, including Trump, on the April 2 ballot.  

This story will be updated.