This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In a decision that has been expected since four Democrats on the Colorado Supreme Court decided to convict President Trump of "insurrection" without a trial or jury, the Supreme Court has confirmed it will review the fight over whether Trump's name can be on the 2024 presidential election ballot.
Democrats across the country have been ramping up their attacks on Trump, now claiming that he was an "insurrectionist" because of others who rioted on January 6, 2021, so he's ineligible to be elected.
Colorado's court issued such a ruling, and a Democrat political activist in Maine removed him from the ballot there. The same campaign has developed in more than a dozen other states, where many times judges have rejected the scheme.
It was a 4-3 ruling in Colorado's court that cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from the ballot. His name will, however, still be on the ballot because of a ruling that stayed the lower court's conclusion pending a final appeal.
The Colorado decision already had been appealed to the Supreme Court, and observers on both sides expected the Supremes to do a review.
There has been other fallout, though. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that because the crisis Joe Biden created at the southern border by discontinuing Trump's security plans amounted to insurrection, Biden's name should be taken off the ballot.
The Colorado ruling has been described as flying in the face of precedent and standards, and an appeal filing pointed out multiple major blunders committed by the state court.
Colorado's courts, of course, already have a reputation for attacking Christians and conservatives, and several years ago got handed a scolding from the Supreme Court for attacks on Christian baker Jack Phillips for not violating his faith by promoting the LGBT lifestyle choices.
Then, the Supreme Court condemned the state's "hostility" to Christianity, and a similar scolding is expected by observers this time, too.
On behalf of the Colorado GOP, the appeal to the Supreme Court states:
There are a number of reasons that make this attempt to remove Donald Trump from the ballot baseless. Here are just a handful:
- This provision of the 14th Amendment does not apply to former Presidents. The 14th Amendment has a Civil War provision that disqualifies anyone who commits insurrection or gives aid and support to our country’s enemies from holding political office. But, contrary to the way this provision has been described in the media, it only applies to people who held certain positions, such as Members of Congress, state legislators, “or as an officer of the United States.” As the Supreme Court of the United States has explained, the President is not an officer of the United States but the head of the Executive branch, with authority to appoint those officers.
- The cited provision of the 14th Amendment does not give a Secretary of State, or anyone else, the authority to unilaterally decide to remove someone from the ballot. If it did, it would allow for the arbitrary removal of any candidate without due process, without trial, and perhaps with a simple declaration by the Colorado Secretary of State or some other Secretary of State that the candidate is ineligible. Instead, the 14th Amendment operates “by the legislation of congress in its ordinary course,” as Chief Justice Chase explained when the provision was first ratified. Without a federal law giving them the right to seek a candidate’s removal, there is no basis to try to remove President Trump from the ballot in Colorado or anywhere else.
- Congress has, in fact, spoken on this issue. It provided the mechanism for people to be removed from election ballots under the 14th Amendment by enacting a statute, 18 U.S.C § 2383, which prohibits participation in rebellion or insurrection and provides that those found guilty of violating this statute “shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” This criminal law proceeds through the ordinary course of prosecution, trial by a court, decision by a jury, and appeal, with due process all the way. If a person were properly found guilty under this statute, they would be disqualified from office. Notably, no one connected to the January 6 issues has been charged with insurrection. In other words, the method Congress has provided for disqualifying someone from office has not even been pursued here.
