A petition calling for former President Donald Trump to be disqualified from holding office under the insurrection clause in the U.S. Constitution has gained more than 480,000 signatures.
The petition was launched by MoveOn, a progressive public policy advocacy group, in December 2022. It calls on election officials to remove Trump from state ballots for the 2024 election under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits those who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office.
It gained traction last summer after Trump was indicted on felony charges of working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The petition was at about 200,000 signatures six months ago but had at least 480,110 signatures as of Tuesday.
"The Constitution's 14th Amendment provides for the disqualification from office of any person who has 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion against' the United States," the petition states. "That includes Donald Trump. As a result, he does not meet the qualifications to become president again."
Trump is the front-runner and heavy favorite to gain the Republican presidential nomination this year.
The petition adds that election officials in every state "must respect the Constitution and reject Trump from their ballots. And Congress can help clarify that by passing legislation to bar Trump from office under the Fourteenth amendment."
"As MoveOn has said many times before, Donald Trump is a danger to our freedoms and democracy," MoveOn Political Action Chief Communications Officer Joel Payne told Newsweek in a statement.
The Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot under the 14th Amendment "proves that there are consequences for betraying our country," Payne said.
"MoveOn and its members have been on the frontlines calling for Trump's disqualification for inciting an insurrection, and we will continue to hold Trump and the MAGA extremists that remain in the halls of Congress accountable for undermining our democracy and fundamental freedoms."
Newsweek reached out to a Trump spokesperson for comment via email.
It comes as Trump is fast closing in on the Republican presidential nomination after securing commanding victories in Iowa and New Hampshire and with wide polling leads in the states ahead.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Trump's challenge to the Colorado ruling.
Colorado's highest court determined that Trump incited the January 6, 2021, riot and, therefore, should not appear on the ballot for the state's primary on March 5. Trump's lawyers have argued that Trump did not engage in insurrection, and also that the presidency is not covered by the amendment.
The nation's highest court has never ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Some legal scholars say the clause, adopted after the Civil War, applies to Trump, but some say the justices may not approve Colorado's decision because "it feels undemocratic."
If the Supreme Court upholds the Colorado decision, it would allow Colorado, Maine and other states to keep Trump off the ballot and imperil his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024.
Maine's Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, decided in December that Trump didn't meet ballot qualifications, making her the first election official to ban him from the ballot under the 14th Amendment. However, a judge put the decision on hold pending the Supreme Court's decision on the Colorado case.
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Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more
