A longshot legal bid to disqualify and remove Donald Trump from the 2024 US presidential ballot is being considered in court for the first time.
The strategy involves trying to block Mr Trump from the primary ballot by invoking a rarely used provision of the US Constitution – Section 3 of the 14th Amendment – that bars those who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the country from holding federal office.
Initially backed by liberal activists, the theory gained more prominence in recent months as some conservatives also embraced it.
But critics warn that, if it moves forward, it risks robbing voters of the right to deliver their own verdict on whether the former president should return to the White House.
On Monday, a judge in Colorado started a five-day hearing over the matter. A similar hearing will take place in Minnesota on Thursday, with lawsuits also filed in critical states like New Hampshire and Michigan.
The untested legal gambit is a last-ditch effort to bar the candidacy of an ex-president who remains popular with his base.
Its ultimate arbiter could be the conservative Supreme Court he helped shape – if it even gets that far.
– BBC News