The Colorado Supreme Court decision is very carefully reasoned and supported by extensive documentation from the senate debate record from the late 1860’s when the Fourteenth Amendment was being debated. As to the intent of the founders, the senators explicitly stated a consensus opinion that it would apply to a president. They noted the numerous references in the Constitution, as originally written and amended, to the “office of the president” to conclude, contrary to the trial court, that the president was not an “officer” within the intent of the Amendment.
The trial court found, as a question of FACT, after presentation of witness testimony and evidence, that Trump had been involved in an act of insurrection, but dismissed the case as not applicable to the presidency.
None of the dissenting judges in the state supreme court disputed the factual claim in the trial court record of the FACT that Trump had engaged in an insurrection.
The Colorado Supreme Court, noting the INTENT OF THE FOUNDERS (the ones who wrote, debated and enacted the Fourteenth Amendment) and the textual language and using dictionary definitions from that era to show what the words meant to those writing them, clearly appealed to the conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court (to which this will be appealed) and their claims of being “textual originalists.” For good measure, they even quoted an opinion from now-Justice Neil Gorsuch (a Trump appointee) from when he was a Colorado state appellate judge, on the disqualification from a ballot.
Conservative legal icon Michael Luttig and liberal legal icon Laurence Tribe have co-authored opinion pieces agreeing that Trump should be disqualified under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. It would be interesting to have them both appear before today’s Supreme Court to argue from their conservative and liberal perspectives why Trump should be disqualified.
The Colorado Supreme Court decision is very carefully reasoned and supported by extensive documentation from the senate debate record from the late 1860’s when the Fourteenth Amendment was being debated. As to the intent of the founders, the senators explicitly stated a consensus opinion that it would apply to a president. They noted the numerous references in the Constitution, as originally written and amended, to the “office of the president” to conclude, contrary to the trial court, that the president was not an “officer” within the intent of the Amendment.
The trial court found, as a question of FACT, after presentation of witness testimony and evidence, that Trump had been involved in an act of insurrection, but dismissed the case as not applicable to the presidency.
None of the dissenting judges in the state supreme court disputed the factual claim in the trial court record of the FACT that Trump had engaged in an insurrection.
The Colorado Supreme Court, noting the INTENT OF THE FOUNDERS (the ones who wrote, debated and enacted the Fourteenth Amendment) and the textual language and using dictionary definitions from that era to show what the words meant to those writing them, clearly appealed to the conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court (to which this will be appealed) and their claims of being “textual originalists.” For good measure, they even quoted an opinion from now-Justice Neil Gorsuch (a Trump appointee) from when he was a Colorado state appellate judge, on the disqualification from a ballot.
Conservative legal icon Michael Luttig and liberal legal icon Laurence Tribe have co-authored opinion pieces agreeing that Trump should be disqualified under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. It would be interesting to have them both appear before today’s Supreme Court to argue from their conservative and liberal perspectives why Trump should be disqualified.