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Trump Is Disqualified From the 2024 Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Full text of the decision found here

From the article:

Former President Donald J. Trump is ineligible to hold office again, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, accepting the argument that the 14th Amendment disqualifies him in an explosive decision that could upend the 2024 election.

In a lengthy ruling ordering the Colorado secretary of state to exclude Mr. Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot, the justices reversed a Denver district judge’s finding last month that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which disqualifies people who have engaged in insurrection against the Constitution after having taken an oath to support it from holding office — did not apply to the presidency.

They affirmed the district judge’s other key conclusions: that Mr. Trump’s actions before and on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted engaging in insurrection, and that courts had the authority to enforce Section 3 against a person whom Congress had not specifically designated.

“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the court wrote in a 4-to-3 ruling. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the majority wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Frankly, this is a political win for Trump either way.

He was never going to win Colorado. Biden had a full landslide win there in 2020. But now Trump gets to talk about the deep state working to cheat the election away from him yada yada yada... over a challenge that is definitely Constitutionally debatable at best.

SCOTUS will likely say the POTUS is not one of the specific roles listed in the 14th, that this is a political question and not for courts to decide, that it can't be enforced without a conviction for sedition, or some combination of all these things. All totally valid responses to the case, honestly. edit: or that the amendment is not self-enforcing, also possibly true.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

SCOTUS won’t get to take an easy way out saying that the Amendment doesn’t apply to the President.

We literally have a transcript of the people who wrote the 14th Amendment saying that it absolutely applies to the President and that they enumerated the people in the 14th because everyone wasn’t exactly sure they would be considered officers. So we have legal record that can be submitted as evidence in that regard indicating that it absolutely applies to the President.

Why that one court ruled that way is weird because it literally ignores the record surrounding that Amendment.

So for SCOTUS to rule that way would be them completely ignoring Congressional record which historically they themselves have relied on. I wouldn’t put it past them but goodness it would look incredibly bad for them to do so.

Likely they’ll indicate that insurrection and disqualification can only be applied at the Federal level. This wouldn’t invalidate Colorado and would acknowledge that the 14th applies to the President but would kick the can down the road.

This would also tiptoe around upsetting too much States determination on elections. SCOTUS as given in their overturning the notion of Independent Legislature Doctrine, what elections to be dictated broadly by States with the Federal Government taking a hands off approach. Pushing too hard back on Colorado on something they determined would upset that idea they’ve crafted. But also not pushing back at all on it would allow states to kick candidates off the ticket with no review. I’m pretty sure Southern States will follow suit in kicking Biden off the ticket for (IDK Insert some stupid ass reason here).

So the Court is likely to push back on Colorado but I’m doubtful they’ll indicate that Colorado was wrong just that they’re not the final say, somehow.