An activist has filed a lawsuit to remove Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., from the Pennsylvania primary election ballot for his role in the attempt to decertify the 2020 election results, PennLive reports. Gene Stilp, who ran for the state House of Representatives in 2014, filed the petition in the Commonwealth Court, arguing that Perry's connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is enough to disqualify him from running for office under the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States from holding office.
“Scott Perry’s own actions and efforts have awakened the application of the Fourteenth Amendment, Section Three, of the United States Constitution which stops those who participate in insurrectionist activities from serving in certain capacities in the government of the United States,” Stilp said. The lawsuit ties Perry, through his cellphone records, to several people involved in former President Donald Trump's White House and campaign discussing methods of overturning his 2020 electoral defeat through voter fraud cases or interfering with the Jan. 6 certification process. Perry talked with White House officials and Trump campaign staff to discuss election fraud and procedural mechanisms, the lawsuit said.
Perry has been involved in a three-year battle to keep his cellphone records away from investigators in Trump's federal election subversion case. A federal judge ruled last month that Perry must turn over around 80 percent of those records to prosecutors. Stilp also previously filed a lawsuit aiming to keep Trump off the Republican primary ballot in Pennsylvania, but withdrew that petition last Friday. Stilp's latest lawsuit comes after rulings in Colorado and Maine that have disqualified the former president from the 2024 primary under the 14th Amendment.
