Fat Loser Loses Again

Last night, the Colorado Supreme Court, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ruled that twice-impeached, multiply-indicted, former so-called "president" Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office and should be removed from the 2024 ballot in the state.

Section 3 was written after the Civil War when former Confederates reelected to Congress men who had tried to destroy the United States government after voters elected Abraham Lincoln as president. The section reads: 

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”  

Yesterday's court ruling doesn't represent a decision that Trump had engaged in insurrection by inciting the riot that led to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. That decision had already been established last month by Denver District Court Judge Sarah Wallace, although she had ruled at that time that Section 3 did not apply to the president. 

The Colorado Supreme Court agreed that the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 constituted an “insurrection” and that Trump had engaged in that insurrection through his personal actions, including his incitement of the crowd that breached the Capitol. But it disagreed that the 14th Amendment did not apply to the president. 

"Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three," the court ruled. "Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the court said. “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.” 

Recognizing that Trump would undoubtedly appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, as his lawyers have already said he will, the court stayed its ruling until January 4, the day before the deadline for the Colorado secretary of state to certify the presidential primary ballot. 

We're in for a wild and woolly constitutional ride over the next 16 days and perhaps beyond, as legal analyst Harry Litman has noted.