The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => SCOTUS News => Topic started by: corbe on November 18, 2023, 04:14:09 pm
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Trump's survival of 14th Amendment lawsuits raises odds of Supreme Court intervention
by Kaelan Deese, Supreme Court Reporter
November 18, 2023 07:00 AM
Former President Donald Trump has so far survived several legal efforts seeking to erase his name from state election ballots, a slate of early victories that still could ultimately end up at the Supreme Court.
Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace handed Trump a victory Friday evening when she ordered he is eligible to appear on the state's primary election ballot when they are certified by the secretary of state's office on Jan. 5, 2024. The lawsuits pending in at least 14 states are similar in nature, seeking to bar Trump from office for his alleged role in spurring the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, under an "insurrection" clause of the 14th Amendment.
Trump's campaign was quick to celebrate Wallace's decision, which keeps him on the Colorado ballot despite a secondary finding that Trump engaged in insurrection during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot through "incitement," Wallace explained in a lengthy 102-page order.
"We applaud today’s ruling in Colorado, which is another nail in the coffin of the un-American ballot challenges," a Trump campaign spokesperson told the Washington Examiner Friday.
A total of three state courts — Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado — have now ruled against liberal watchdog groups and citizens who have filed lawsuits seeking to bar the Republican primary front-runner from ballot eligibility, and a similar challenge has also been dismissed in New Hampshire. Each of these lawsuits relies on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states no person shall hold an elected office or government position if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States.
Despite the relief expressed by the Trump campaign, the coalition of four Republican voters and two independent voters that sued in Colorado plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court within the next week, which could prompt a losing party there to appeal to the nation's highest court.
University of Notre Dame Law School professor Derek T. Muller told the Washington Examiner he believes the focus of the appeal will be on Wallace's finding that Trump engaged in insurrection.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/trumps-surviving-14th-amendment-challenges-raises-odds-of-supreme-court-case (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/trumps-surviving-14th-amendment-challenges-raises-odds-of-supreme-court-case)
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Basically, the judge thought Trump did something unbecoming, but deferred to higher authorities to figure out which laws were broken.