Colorado Judge Rules 14th Amendment Suit Can Continue That Seeks to Keep Trump Off 2024 Ballot

[mystery-ak]

Colorado Judge Rules 14th Amendment Suit Can Continue That Seeks to Keep Trump Off 2024 Ballot
By Becca Lower | 11:59 PM on October 27, 2023

In September, a lawsuit was filed in Colorado seeking to use the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to keep former President Donald Trump off the state's 2024 ballot, as my colleague Jeff Charles reported.

He wrote:

    ....Six voters in Colorado have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Denver to disqualify the former president from being included on the ballot if he wins the Republican presidential nomination.

    This move is part of a larger push to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to keep Trump from winning the presidency.

        Six voters in Colorado filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the state's election ballots because of his role in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

        Their suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Denver, contends that Trump should be disqualified from running in future elections under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which states that no person shall hold any office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after having taken an oath to support the Constitution.

        The group called on the court to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot and declare that it would be "improper" and "a breach or neglect of duty" for Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, to allow his name to appear on any future primary or general election ballots.

        Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and several law firms filed the lawsuit on behalf of the six voters — four Republicans and two unaffiliated.

A Colorado judge ruled on Friday against the Trump legal team's second attempt to argue it should be thrown out:

    In her 24-page ruling, Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace rejected Trump’s argument that matters of ballot eligibility are limited to Congress, not the courts. Wallace also opposed Trump’s argument that state election officials cannot invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

    “The Court holds that states can, and have, applied Section 3 pursuant to state statues without federal enforcement legislation,” Wallace wrote.

    Wallace’s ruling comes just days before the trial is slated to start Oct. 30.

more
https://redstate.com/beccalower/2023/10/27/judge-rules-lawsuit-seeking-to-use-14th-amend-to-bar-trump-from-2024-ballot-in-colorado-will-continue-n2165621

[libertybele]

Chances are he wouldn't win Colorado anyways, but the fact that he's going to be kept off the ballot is concerning as other states may follow. Obviously should he be the nominee it would definitely lower his chances of winning.

I hope that the RNC will appeal this???

[Smokin Joe]

The key words here are "engaged in insurrection or rebellion".

That has not been determined in accordance with another bit of the 14th, namely through "due process of law".

Opinions derived from constant exposure to the chattering class on cable news nonwithstanding, he must be found guilty of those charges.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Chances are he wouldn't win Colorado anyways, but the fact that he's going to be kept off the ballot is concerning as other states may follow. Obviously should he be the nominee it would definitely lower his chances of winning.

I hope that the RNC will appeal this???

I would think it would be his job to appeal that at this point in the campaign, and I would expect that he does.  In Colorado, the deadline for filing to be in a Presidential primary is December 11. so presumably you'd want it resolved by then.

https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Colorado,_2024

[Maj. Bill Martin]

The key words here are "engaged in insurrection or rebellion".

That has not been determined in accordance with another bit of the 14th, namely through "due process of law".

Opinions derived from constant exposure to the chattering class on cable news notwithstanding, he must be found guilty of those charges.

I agree.  There is an explicit federal statute on insurrection/rebellion, and he hasn't even been charged under that.  Much less convicted.  That should be a prerequisite to ballot removal under the 14th, but there's no telling what some activist judge might decide.

There also are some pretty good legal arguments, with supporting caselaw, that the 14th doesn't even apply to actions of a President or to someone running for President because it is not an "office of the United States".

[Fishrrman]

Unless this question reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, and receives a definitive decision, I'll go out on a limb and predict that at least a few states will NOT have Mr. Trump's name on the ballot in 2024.

Colorado is likely to be one of them.

In effect, the presidential "elections" in those states will not be actual elections at all (between competing opponents), but rather plebiscites, giving the voters a chance to either vote for or against... a single dem-communist candidate (probably whoever is selected to replace biden).
(by "against" all the voter will be able to do is leave that space blank)

Again, unless the High Court stops this, it's something that's coming.
Seems to be 'way off in the distance yet.
But it's gaining on us.