Colorado Supreme Court to hear Trump 14th Amendment ballot challenge
The Colorado Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Wednesday afternoon in a closely watched case about whether the U.S. Constitution바카라 게임 웹사이트s ban on insurrectionists from holding office applies to former President Donald Trump.
This is one of several 14th Amendment challenges against Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s candidacy, which so far have failed to remove him from a single ballot. Legal experts from both sides expect that one of these cases will ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which could settle the issue before the Republican primaries begin with the Iowa caucuses in January.
After a weeklong bench trial last month, Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace ruled that Trump 바카라 게임 웹사이트engaged in an insurrection바카라 게임 웹사이트 on Jan. 6, 2021, and 바카라 게임 웹사이트acted with the specific intent to incite political violence.바카라 게임 웹사이트
But she concluded that the insurrectionist ban doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t apply to the presidency, based on the text of the post-Civil War constitutional amendment.
The provision says officials who take an oath to support the Constitution are disqualified from office if they 바카라 게임 웹사이트engaged in insurrection.바카라 게임 웹사이트 It explicitly prohibits them from serving as senators, representatives and other offices 바카라 게임 웹사이트 but it doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t mention the presidency.
The anti-Trump challengers appealed Wallace바카라 게임 웹사이트s conclusion that the ban doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t apply to the presidency. Trump appealed many of the other findings in Wallace바카라 게임 웹사이트s stunning 102-page ruling. Both sides will present arguments at Wednesday바카라 게임 웹사이트s two-hour hearing.
All seven justices on Colorado바카라 게임 웹사이트s high court were appointed by Democratic governors.
The hearing in Denver is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET.
Both sides make their case
Lawyers for the challengers, who are Republican and independent Colorado voters, told the court in a filing that there is 바카라 게임 웹사이트overwhelming historical consensus바카라 게임 웹사이트 that the provision known as Section 3 of the 14th Amendment 바카라 게임 웹사이트disqualified rebels from the Presidency.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트Both supporters and opponents of the Fourteenth Amendment understood that,바카라 게임 웹사이트 they said in a filing, referring to the 1860s congressional debate over the amendment. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Trump does not cite a single person at the time who argued against this common-sense conclusion, and no amount of creative nay-saying by lawyers and academics 150 years later can refute it.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s attorneys asked the Colorado Supreme Court to uphold Wallace바카라 게임 웹사이트s final decision to keep Trump on the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s ballots, but pressed the court to overturn her other findings, which they argued contained 바카라 게임 웹사이트multiple grave jurisdictional and legal errors.바카라 게임 웹사이트
They argued that 바카라 게임 웹사이트this proceeding should never have gone forward바카라 게임 웹사이트 because Colorado courts aren바카라 게임 웹사이트t authorized to adjudicate federal constitutional disputes. Further, they claimed Trump can바카라 게임 웹사이트t be disqualified because 바카라 게임 웹사이트there was no insurrection on January 6.바카라 게임 웹사이트
GOP attorneys general groups weigh in
Before the hearing, a flurry of outside groups and lawyers tried to weigh in on the case.
A coalition of 19 state attorneys general, all Republicans, the court to keep Trump on the ballot by determining that the challengers couldn바카라 게임 웹사이트t file the suit in the first place. Wallace had ruled that the challengers, a group of Colorado voters, had standing to sue.
Many of these GOP attorneys general also supported the unsuccessful Supreme Court lawsuit that Texas filed in 2020 to overturn the results in four states that Trump lost.
A group of First Amendment experts that Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s remarks at his Jan. 6 rally were 바카라 게임 웹사이트so threatening바카라 게임 웹사이트 that they weren바카라 게임 웹사이트t protected by his constitutional free-speech rights, and told the Colorado Supreme Court to uphold Wallace바카라 게임 웹사이트s decision to that effect.