‘Chaos’ if 14th Amendment questions unsolved before a Trump inauguration: Court
Kaelan Deese
Video Embed
Colorado‘s top court weighed a 14th Amendment lawsuit challenging the placement of Donald Trump‘s name on the state ballot, with concerns being raised by at least one justice that “chaos” could ensue if such challenges aren’t resolved before the former president possibly wins the 2024 election.
Oral arguments were held Wednesday at the Colorado Supreme Court over a lawsuit brought by state voters who say Trump should be disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars public officials from holding federal office if they have engaged in “insurrection.”
KEVIN MCCARTHY LEAVING CONGRESS AT END OF YEAR: ‘LEAVING THE HOUSE BUT NOT THE FIGHT’
Using the 14th Amendment to bar someone from holding federal office has only happened twice outside the context of the Civil War and has never been applied to a presidential candidate or former president. There’s also no guidance as to whether a challenge of this nature should more appropriately come before the November 2024 election or before Trump’s 2025 inauguration, should he become the Republican nominee and defeat President Joe Biden next year.
Justice William Hood III told Trump attorney Scott Gessler that “by failing to resolve this issue on the merits now, we create the potential for chaos in January of 2025.”
However, Hood pushed back on Gessler’s point of view that removing Trump from the ballot in Colorado would create chaos due to a lack of uniformity on election ballots across the country.
The responses from Hood and other justices suggest that the state’s high court could be the first top state court to acknowledge the riot at the Capitol as an insurrection but also would likely set aside any liability by Trump for the attack.
“As to insurrection, why isn’t it enough that a violent mob breached the Capitol when Congress was performing a core constitutional function?” Hood said. “In some ways, that seems like a poster child for insurrection.”
Hood also acknowledged that if he reverses a lower court decision that allowed Trump to remain on the Colorado ballot, there would be a near-inevitability that the U.S. Supreme Court would take up the case.
A Denver court found last month that Trump engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, by inciting a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol in a failed bid to block Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory in 2020, but it found Trump was not “an officer of the United States” who could be disqualified under the amendment.
A few of the justices appeared to focus on the vagueness of the 14th Amendment and expressed uneasiness about taking away the public’s ability to vote for Trump, but no members of the court gave an express viewpoint as to how they would rule.
“If it was so important that the president be included, I come back to the question, why not spell it out?” Justice Carlos Samour asked about the language of Section 3. “Why not include president and vice president the way you spell out? They spelled out senator or representative.”
Justice Melissa Hart added that “nowhere in any of the references to officer does the Constitution list the president.”
The hearing in Colorado comes as Trump faces similar challenges in other states, though no other state courts have progressed far enough to consider the merits of the lawsuit like Colorado has, and Trump has so far seen early success in these challenges. A similar effort to litigate Trump off of the ballot in Oregon was filed Wednesday.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Elsewhere on Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court declined, at least in the short term, to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling that allowed Trump to stay on the presidential primary ballot.
No matter the outcome of the case, the Colorado Supreme Court is likely to rule sooner than later to find a resolution in the state’s court system before Jan. 5, 2024, when the secretary of state must certify the primary ballot. The state votes for party nominees on Super Tuesday, which is March 5.