John,
The judge in our lawsuit seeking to bar Donald Trump from the ballot in Colorado ruled on Friday evening that Trump incited the January 6th insurrection. That is the first time a judge has ever found that a president engaged in insurrection—which is huge.
Unfortunately, she stopped short of disqualifying Trump from the ballot. We just appealed that aspect of her ruling.
Judge Wallace ruled that Section Three of the 14th Amendment does not apply to presidents, because the presidency is not an “office” listed in the clause. Therefore, she ruled that despite Trump’s incitement of insurrection, he is not constitutionally disqualified. John, here’s what Section Three says:
We strongly disagree with the judge that Section Three does not apply to presidents. It is hard to believe that the framers of the Disqualification Clause wished it to apply to every officeholder BUT the president.
Section Three was put in place after the Civil War, to ensure that those who try to overthrow our government are not later put in charge of it. As one of our expert witnesses, Professor Gerard Magliocca, testified during the evidentiary hearing, people at the time widely understood the clause to apply to even the most powerful Confederate politicians, and would have barred President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis from running for president.
Even the expert witness called by Trump’s team to testify about constitutional questions took no position on whether the presidency is an “office” and acknowledged that “the preponderance of scholars” agreed with Professor Magliocca. Two of those experts, former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig and Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, joined MSNBC this weekend to provide the bipartisan expert perspective that that aspect of the ruling was “simply incorrect.”
If the 14th Amendment’s Disqualification Clause is going to protect our government from insurrectionists—as the judge just ruled Donald Trump is—it must apply to the highest office in the land. And it must apply to presidents who incite insurrection to illegally hold on to power.
We just appealed that aspect of the judge’s ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court. Can you make a donation today to help power this case?
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Here are some key points from our just-filed appeal:
- Page 7: “Based on a thorough review of the evidence and assessments of witness credibility, the district court found that the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol was an insurrection against the Constitution and that Trump engaged in that insurrection. Not only did the district court rule in favor of Petitioners on every factual issue necessary to disqualify Trump from the ballot, but it also found for Petitioners on every legal issue necessary to grant the Petition save for one.”
- Page 3: “This holding was reversible error. The Constitution itself, historical context, and common sense, all make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s disqualification clause extends to the President and the Presidency."
- Page 18: “We know that the Presidency is an ‘office . . . under the United States’ because the Constitution repeatedly says so. The Constitution refers to the President holding an ‘Office’ 25 times.”
- Page 23: “The congressional debates over Section 3 likewise reveal a clear intent to cover the office of the Presidency.”
- Page 39: “By the time the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, the phrase ‘officer of the United States’ was widely understood to include the President. This usage extends back to the founding, when George Washington was described as “the first executive officer of the United States.”
Trump was ruled to be an insurrectionist. Now he must be ruled ineligible for the ballot. Help us take our case to the next level by making a donation today!
Thank you,
Team CREW
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