The Colorado Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that the so-called insurrection clause of the Constitution disqualifies former President Donald Trump from serving as president. The court also directed the secretary of state to remove Trump’s name from the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot.
The divided Colorado Supreme Court rendered a historic decision, ruling that Trump is ineligible to hold public office under the Civil War-era provision. This is the first time a court has determined that Trump’s actions surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, disqualify him from holding office again. A court has never previously decided that a presidential candidate is ineligible under the provision, Section 3 and 14th Amendment.
The group that filed the action in Colorado, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, led by Noah Bookbinder, applauded the ruling and said they will make efforts to keep it in place.
The Fourteenth Amendment’s Section 3
Whether or not Section 3 prevents Trump from holding the presidency was at issue in the Colorado lawsuit. The goal of the clause is to bar anybody who participated in insurrection and took an oath to defend the Constitution from holding state or federal office.
(Photo: CBS News>Grace Segers)
On behalf of four Republican voters and two independent votes, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of Washington filed the complaint in Colorado state court in September. The lawsuit said that Trump’s actions regarding the assault on January 6 rendered him ineligible under Section 3.
On behalf of four Republican voters and two independent votes, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of Washington filed the complaint in Colorado state court in September. The lawsuit said that Trump’s actions regarding the assault on January 6 rendered him ineligible under Section 3. The same defense has been used in dozens of lawsuits filed around the nation, yet some of them have already been rejected by state courts.
Additional Legal Issues
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 with the intention of prohibiting former Confederate officials from holding federal or state office. It was mostly used in the years following the Civil War. It has never been used against a past president and is seldom ever utilized in the current era.
Following the incident on January 6 and the claims that Trump instigated the attack, lawsuits in over fifty states sought to prevent Trump from being placed on the ballot due to his choice to run for a second term in office.
