Judge rejects attempt to remove Trump from Colorado ballot

A Colorado judge on Friday rejected an effort to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot.

Judge Sarah Wallace argued in her 102-page report decision Friday that Trump is not an “official of the United States” disqualified from holding office under section three of the 14th Amendment, ordering Colorado’s secretary of state to include Trump on the primary ballot. However, Wallace did find that Trump “engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 by incitement” and that the First Amendment does not protect his speech.

“While the Court agrees that there are persuasive arguments on both sides, the Court holds that the absence of the President from the list of offices to which the Amendment applies combined with the fact that Section Three specifies that the oath disqualifier is one to ‘support’ the Constitution, while the presidential oath is intended to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution, it seems to the Court that for some reason the drafters of Section Three did not intend to include to a person who had only taken the presidential oath,” Wallace wrote.

Wallace wrote that she is reluctant to accept an interpretation that “would disqualify a presidential candidate without a clear and unambiguous indication that that is the intent of Section Three.” (RELATED: Judge refuses to recuse himself from Trump’s 2024 election case over donation to anti-GOP PAC)

JUST IN: A Colo State judge finds that Trump PARTICIPATED IN THE INSURRECTION but WAS NOT an “officer of the United States” within the meaning of § 3 of the 14th Amendment. Therefore, he DENIES efforts to keep him out of the polls. https://t.co/6zEJCW9WwP

—Roger Parloff (@rparloff) November 18, 2023

The left-wing donor Backed The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) presented a lawsuit in October sought to remove Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies “officials of the United States” who took an oath to the Constitution and then participated in an “insurrection” from holding public office. .

for ten days rehearsal To consider the challenge that began in October, 70 witnesses testified under oath, according to the ruling.

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