Kellyanne Conway asked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Wednesday whether she could remove President Joe Biden from the ballot in her state.
Conway’s question came after the Colorado Supreme Court barred Donald Trump from the state ballot for violating the 14th Amendment.
“Would you be able to bar Biden from the ballot in your state of South Dakota if, say, he violated that part of the 14th Amendment by unfreezing assets for Iran or allowed terrorists to just openly walk over the southern border? I mean, do you think that you would have that power,” Conway asked while subbing for Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“I don’t believe so. That’s what is so interesting,” Noem responded.
“The process that the court has is a balance to our federal government,” she continued. “It is a balance to our executive branch ― a balance to our legislative branch. So us exerting the kind of influence on the court and their decisions to take that kind of action is really unprecedented. 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 statute and give decisions based on the scales of justice.”
The Trump campaign said they will “swiftly” file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court after the ruling Tuesday. The Colorado Supreme Court has stayed its decision until Jan. 4, or until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case.
Noem, who has been floated as a possible 2024 running mate for Trump, said she hopes the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court “take quick action, strong action to reverse this decision at the lower court and make sure that they do the right thing by the American people and make sure their voices are heard.”
The Colorado ruling was met with backlash from Republicans and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) even threatened to remove Biden from the ballot in retaliation “for allowing 8m people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history.”
But, a YouGov poll published one day after the Colorado ruling found that more than half of Americans (54%) approve of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to remove Trump from their state ballot, including nearly a quarter of Republican voters.
