GOP Governor Pushes Back at Plan to Remove Joe Biden From State Ballot

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has said she doesn't believe there are mechanisms in place for her to remove Joe Biden from the 2024 ballots in her state as Republicans suggested similar ideas in response to the Colorado Supreme Court disqualifying Donald Trump from running for president.

In an interview on Fox News, former Trump White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway asked Noem whether she has the power to remove President Biden from South Dakota's ballots for allegedly violating the 14th Amendment by "unfreezing assets for Iran" as part of a prisoner swap deal or, in Conway's words, allowing "terrorists to just openly walk over" the southern border.

On Tuesday, Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was banned from running for the White House in Colorado after the state's Supreme Court ruled his actions on January 6 violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states a person who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after taking an oath of office to support the Constitution should be barred from running for office again.

The move was widely condemned by Trump and other Republican figures, including the former president's 2024 GOP primary rivals. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick also suggested that Biden should be removed from his state's 2024 ballot for "allowing eight million people to cross the border" during his time in office which Patrick argued had disrupted Texas "more than anything anyone else has done in recent history."

When asked whether she has the authority to remove Biden in South Dakota, Noem, a Republican, replied: "You know, I don't believe so."

"The process that the court has is a balance to our federal government, it is a balance to our executive branch and balance to our legislative branch, so us exerting this kind of influence on the court and their decisions to take that kind of action is really unprecedented," Noem added.

"So I trust our South Dakota state laws, our Constitution, it gives great guidance to us and our court system understands that their job is to follow the statute and give decisions based on the scales of justice."

Noem's office has been contacted for further comment via email.

The historic ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court was in response to an appeal by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW] watchdog group and Republican figures after a lower court judge rejected their lawsuit to remove Trump from the 2024 ballots for violating the 14th Amendment despite ruling that that Trump had "engaged in insurrection" during the Capitol riot on January 6.

Trump spokesperson Steve Cheung said that the former president will "swiftly" file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over the "deeply undemocratic" decision.

During her Fox News appearance, Noem—who has been touted as Trump's possible 2024 running mate—said she hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority bench including three justices who were nominated to the bench by the former president, will take "quick" and "strong" action to reverse the decision in Colorado.

"President Trump will win, and my hope is that they allow this election to be held fairly, and let the people weigh in and choose the President that they want in the White House," Noem added.

In a post in Truth Social, Trump claimed that Biden is an "insurrectionist" because the president has "let millions of unknown people come recklessly and unchecked through our insane 'Open' Border, let a war begin in the Middle East and Ukraine, Weaponized our DOJ & FBI, SURRENDERED in Afghanistan when we could have left with dignity and strength—the most embarrassing event in the history of our Country, and is destroying America with the GREEN NEW SCAM!!!"