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. Constitution鈥檚 ban on insurrectionists from holding office applies to former President Donald Trump.
This is one of several 14th Amendment challenges against Trump鈥檚 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 鈥渆ngaged in an insurrection鈥� on Jan. 6, 2021, and 鈥渁cted with the specific intent to incite political violence.鈥�
But she concluded that the insurrectionist ban doesn鈥檛 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 鈥渆ngaged in insurrection.鈥� It explicitly prohibits them from serving as senators, representatives and other offices 鈥� but it doesn鈥檛 mention the presidency.
The anti-Trump challengers appealed Wallace鈥檚 conclusion that the ban doesn鈥檛 apply to the presidency. Trump appealed many of the other findings in Wallace鈥檚 stunning 102-page ruling. Both sides will present arguments at Wednesday鈥檚 two-hour hearing.
All seven justices on Colorado鈥檚 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 鈥渙verwhelming historical consensus鈥� that the provision known as Section 3 of the 14th Amendment 鈥渄isqualified rebels from the Presidency.鈥�
鈥淏oth supporters and opponents of the Fourteenth Amendment understood that,鈥� they said in a filing, referring to the 1860s congressional debate over the amendment. 鈥淭rump 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.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 attorneys asked the Colorado Supreme Court to uphold Wallace鈥檚 final decision to keep Trump on the state鈥檚 ballots, but pressed the court to overturn her other findings, which they argued contained 鈥渕ultiple grave jurisdictional and legal errors.鈥�
They argued that 鈥渢his proceeding should never have gone forward鈥� because Colorado courts aren鈥檛 authorized to adjudicate federal constitutional disputes. Further, they claimed Trump can鈥檛 be disqualified because 鈥渢here was no insurrection on January 6.鈥�
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 couldn鈥檛 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 Trump鈥檚 remarks at his Jan. 6 rally were 鈥渟o threatening鈥� that they weren鈥檛 protected by his constitutional free-speech rights, and told the Colorado Supreme Court to uphold Wallace鈥檚 decision to that effect.