by Jonathan Turley
The Colorado Supreme Court has issued an unsigned opinion, making history in the most chilling way possible. A divided court barred Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot.
For months, advocates have been filing without success in various states, looking for some court to sign off on a dangerous, novel theory under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. They finally found four receptive jurists on one of the bluest state supreme courts in the land.
Even on a court composed entirely of justices appointed by Democratic governors, Colorado’s Supreme Court split 4-3 on the question. The majority admitted that this was a case “of first impression” and that there was “sparse” authority on the question. Yet, the lack of precedent or clarity did not deter these justices from making new law to block Trump from running. Indeed, the most controlling precedent appears to be what might be called the Wilde Doctrine.
In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde wrote that “the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” The four Colorado justices just ridded themselves of the ultimate temptation and, in so doing, put this country on one of the most dangerous paths in its history.
The court majority used a long-dormant provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — the “disqualification clause” — that was written after the Civil War to bar former Confederate members from serving in the U.S. Congress.
In December 1865 many in Washington were shocked to see Alexander Stephens, the Confederacy’s onetime vice president, waiting to take the same oath that he took before joining the Southern rebellion. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had just died after whole states seceded into their own separate nation with its own army, navy, foreign policy and currency. So Congress declared that it could bar those “who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
January 6, 2021, was many things — and all of them bad. However, it was not an insurrection. I was critical of Trump’s speech to a mob of supporters that day, and I rejected his legal claims to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election in Congress. However, it was a protest that became a riot, not a rebellion.
Indeed, despite the unrelenting efforts of many in the media and Congress, a post-January 6 Harvard study found that most of the rioters were motivated by support for Trump or concerns about the election’s fairness, not by a desire to rebel.
Even the Justice Department’s special counsel Jack Smith, who threw every possible charge at Trump in two indictments, did not believe he had sufficient basis to charge Trump with incitement or insurrection.
Much can be said about this decision, but restraint is not one of them. What is most striking about the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling is how the majority removed all of the fail-safes to extend the meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to block Trump.
There were a number of barriers facing advocates who have tried to stretch this provision to cover the January 6 riot. The four justices had to adopt the most sweeping interpretation possible on every one of those questions in order to support their decision.
The only narrow part of the opinion came with the interpretation of the First Amendment, where the four justices dismissed the free-speech implications of disqualifying presidential candidates based on political position and rhetoric.
The result is an opinion that lacks any limiting principles. It places the nation on a slippery slope where red and blue states could now engage in tit-for-tat disqualifications. According to the Colorado Supreme Court, those decisions do not need to be based on the specific comments made by figures like Trump. Instead, it ruled, courts can now include any statements made before or after a speech to establish a “true threat.”
It was inevitable that the Trump-ballot challengers would find four jurists in one state willing to follow something like the Wilde Doctrine. However, it is also important to note that a series of Democratic jurists previously refused to do so in various cases. They did so not out of any affinity to Trump but out of their affinity to the Constitution.
The Colorado Supreme Court has handed down the most anti-democratic opinion in decades. What is particularly galling is that these four justices stripped away the right of millions of voters to choose their preferred candidate in the name of democracy. It is like burning down a house in the name of fire safety.
The only good news is that this flawed theory can now be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court where it is likely to be put to rest conclusively.
Democrats believe that their feelings should override all laws and the Constitution. They cannot defeat Trump, who has a record of successful leadership, with the alternative of their form of governance, which has been a disastrous failure. They can’t campaign against him by presenting any superior ideas or polices, so they, along with the Ministry of Propaganda media, hurl false accusations of fascism, dictatorship, authoritarian and racism. This is why Democrats had to utilize election fraud in 2020 and 2022 and why such a total disaster is in the White House now. The majority of voters knew Robin Ware/Robert L. Peters/JRB Ware/Pedo Peter/idiot Biden is incompetent and corrupt and rejected him; only fraud put that pile of shit in office.
Democrats present nothing that makes them attractive as leaders, so lawfare and fraud is their platform.
This whole thing is going to Backfire on all of those lowlife creatures and fiends
https://twitter.com/JasonMillerinDC/status/1737476726848892930?t=1FsSzqISE9u8Vy6WkdLeqw&s=19
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1737508371236888845?t=qVo1eQP0ZZneFKX1A1G8ZA&s=19
https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1737568876056195111?t=XBOZnut7FZjzoVq9p4qk_w&s=19
https://twitter.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1737488971746213942?t=-C6MoaVf175DKpcuR_SRyw&s=19
It serves the legitimate purpose of accelerating a Supreme Court determination on the applicability of the 14th Amendment to a point well ahead of the 2024 election—as Dershowitz well knows.
The court does not have to take the case. Trump appeals, the courts makes its decision known in June, Trump goes on the CO primacy ballot for March and the SC overturns the CO court
So don’t take it. There are lawsuits pending in multiple states to knock Trump off the ballot on 14th Amendment grounds.
Multiple states same asshole lawfare fools, same ignorant argument, blah lah blah.
If Trump hasn’t been charged, indicted or convicted of any insurrection, why waste the time? Oh… that’s right; Democrats are such utter, catastrophic failures that they have to use ever extra-Constitutional scam they can think of to try and keep the election from be a fair one.
They’ve charged him with what they believe they have sufficient testimony and evidence to convict him of.
The 14th Amendment doesn’t say that a person must first be tried and convicted of breaking their oath before being disqualified from holding future office. That judgement was made by the Colorado Supreme Court when they determined that the 14th Amendment was applicable.
The Supreme Court can overrule a state court’s judgement, if they disagree. Congress can nullify the disqualification.
Due process is missing when was this trial? it was simply an opinion.
There was no insurrection on January 6.
Us Patriots are the most heavily armed people in the world, if there was an organized planned insurrection DC could have been leveled flat.
Due process takes the form of an appeal to the US Supreme Court, which will either decline to hear the case or issue a ruling very significant ruling. Alternatively, Congress can nullify the disqualification.
If there were an organized planned insurrection, patriots and supporters of the Constitution would not be on Trump’s side.
No it doesn’t, you idiot. Far from it. Due process takes the form of collection of evidence that reasonably indicates a crime was committed and the accused being given their day in court. It is NOT random, contrived accusations based on political need, to drag innocent people into court, drain their resources, persecute them because the party in power fears an opponent. That is EXACTLY what the left has been doing to Trump all up and down the eastern seaboard and, now, in Colorado. Democrats have no respect for the law or Constitution.
Wait… what? Did you just admit there WAS no insurrection? Wow. Of course, even the tainted FBI had already come to that same conclusion. I had to read that statement several times to make sure I understood it correctly! There WAS NO INSURRECTION.
There is NO evidence in existence even remotely indicating Trump committed insurrection and most certainly no official judicial decision of it. It is imaginary; you desperate best hope. The 14th Amendment, like everything in the law and Constitution, rely on due process and official documented adjudication, not just some desperate fascist crybaby’s Hail Mary.
12/20/23 – Fact check: Are Colorado Supreme Court justices ‘unelected,’ as GOP has claimed?
After the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump is ineligible for office because of the Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban,” some prominent Republicans bashed the “unelected judges” for their decision.
“We need elections that we can trust, that we can believe in,” GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Tuesday at a campaign event in Mason City, Iowa. “That means yes, unelected judges are not going to decide willy-nilly across the state who ends up on a ballot and who doesn’t.”
GOP Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida also criticized the “unelected judges” for issuing a “garbage” ruling in a social media post Wednesday. And Trump pollster Jim McLaughlin told Politico that the case was decided by “a bunch of unelected, left-wing judges.” Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe similarly said “unelected liberal judges” shouldn’t determine who can be president.
Facts First: These comments aren’t entirely accurate. In Colorado, supreme court justices are initially appointed by governors but then have to face the voters by running in statewide retention elections. Colorado voters previously chose to keep all four justices who were in the 4-3 majority that ruled against Trump.
All seven justices on the state’s high court were appointed by Democratic governors, which has become a point of criticism from Trump’s campaign after the ruling.
The justices serve for an initial two years – and then Colorado voters decide on a yes-or-no ballot whether to keep them for a subsequent 10-year term, according to state law. This is different from some states, where they run head-to-head against an opposing judicial candidate.
Six of the seven Colorado justices have won statewide retention elections to stay on the bench. The seventh was appointed in 2021 and will be on the ballot next year…
But, they WERE appointed.
So?
As stated, they were not elected, they were appointed.
So?
So, they were appointed, as was originally stated.
Every one of the 50 states and the District of Columbia have previously disqualified candidates from appearing on their ballots. Ballot exclusion has never been uncommon.
But they are usually for a legitimate reason. This one isn’t.
You assert that as if you have any idea what you’re talking about.
Oh, maybe you have the evidence that Trump was convicted of insurrection. No one else does. Well, present it, scooter.
The 14th Amendment doesn’t state that a conviction is necessary. Most southern elected officials banned from holding office weren’t tried and convicted of insurrection.
12/20/23 – Colorado Supreme Court justices face a flood of threats after disqualifying Trump from the ballot – The latest round of threats fits a familiar pattern: Trump faces a legal setback, and officials face threats.
Orbanism is a word now.
https://twitter.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1737469026631094278
Only among the easily manipulated. Enjoy your new word.
Hmmm…. kind of like the Supreme Court Justices after some leftist scumbag leaked the draft decision on Roe v. Wade, which you cheered on, huh? Kind of like the threats against the Justices Schumer encouraged, huh? Kind of like, you made you bed, now lie it it, what goes around comes around, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, if you can’t stand the F**KING HEAT, GET OUT OF THE F**KING KITCHEN.
Maybe it’s time people that trample the Constitution and weaponize the justice system receive some threats. Isn’t that the way you leftists like it?
Everyone that gains any public spotlight gets threatened, stalked, love letters, hate mail, its part of the gig.
Now Victor theres a man with a spine. Booted Soros and his NGOs out of the country, on his 4th term as PM. Oh Macron doesnt like him, bonus points.
Oh Greg this is the best
attacked the FBI field office in Cincinnati with a nail gun while holding an AR-15-style rifle.
Did how did he also carry a compressor that needs to be plugged in, the pneumatic hose that has to be connected for the nail gun to operate? The Nail gun also must be pressed onto the object to fire.
Finishing , roofing or the assault framing nailer?
The Trump Effect… 12/21/23 – Colorado supreme court justices face death threats after Trump ruling –
Maybe they are facing death threats because they are trampling the Constitution and denying citizens their right to vote for the candidate of their choice. You sure had no problem with “death threats” when Schumer called for them to be directed at SCOTUS. Democrats normalize violence, threats and intimidation. Keep working on it and, one day, you’ll have the conflict you Democrats so desperately crave.
Democrats are the violent threat.
You do realize that half of the country believes that’s true of your cult leader? Trump’s great advantage is that they also believe in due process and the rule of law.
The majority believes there was election fraud, mainly because the evidence is so great and widespread that it can’t even be suppressed by the Ministry of Propaganda. While the Ministry is working with the DNC to promote the myth that Trump is Hitler, despite Robin Ware/Robert L. Peters/JRB Ware/Pedo Peter/idiot Biden and the Democrats behaving just like Hitler and the Nazis, few are buying it. Only the stupid. Apparently.
Why is it you cheered Schumer openly calling for violence against SCOTUS if you think these fascists getting threats (if they, indeed, actually are) for their anti-Constitutional, un-American judgements is wrong? This is what we’ve been trying to tell you dumbasses; if you keep pushing intimidation, terrorism and violence, it’s going to come back and bite you right in your stupid asses.
There IS NO effin’ evidence. That’s the reason it has been put online NOWHERE for public inspection. There’s no other rational explanation for why it hasn’t been.
STATE FARM ARENA.
08/05/23 – ‘Smoking gun’ video of Georgia vote count is now evidence against Trump
Lie about a fake water main break, observers told counting was suspended and sent home, as soon as the observers are gone, counting resumes and, SURPRISE! at 4am, a massive and mysterious spike in Robin Ware/Robert L. Peters/JRB Ware/Pedo Peter/idiot Biden votes.
Sure. Nothing to see here. Totally legit.
You can believe obvious bullshit if you want to. I prefer the truth.
You watched the security tape video while the added soundtrack told you what you were seeing.
It reminds me of the satellite photo of trucks leaving an Iranian ammo dump before we invaded, with the explanation that it was a convoy removing Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.
I think that was the moment when it first registered that FOX News was creating a separate right-wing propaganda reality.
Fake water main break, get rid of observers, huge inexplicable spike for Robin Ware/Robert L. Peters/JRB Ware/Pedo Peter/idiot Biden. It’s self explanatory. Election fraud.
Not inexplicable in any way; in fact, quite explicable. Vote-by-mail ballots and absentee ballots generally can’t be tallied until after polls close (or at least in the evening of election day). People voted for Biden, and these numbers entered the system at night.
Inexplicable. The size of the spike (just enough to overcome Trump’s massive lead) is inexplicable… save for ONE explanation.
Election fraud.
Easily explicable. The Right is largely against vote-by-mail, early voting, and absentee ballots. The Left isn’t. When it was time to count those ballots, it was not surprising that most of them would be for Biden.
The right opposes election fraud. The left doesn’t. Voting by mail easily lends itself to fraud, so the right opposes it being overused. Democrats want voting by mail to be universal, the population showered with ballots and little or no oversight on ID, signatures or chain of custody. Democrats don’t like to count the mail in votes until election day… when they finally see how many votes they need.
That pretty much sums it up.
And in November 2020 how many of the five swing states was that applicable to? Georgia? Wisconsin?
Let’s take just one state: was the chain of custody maintained for ballots in Fulton County, Georgia? At the State Farm Arena in Georgia, what type of tabulators did Georgia use there? Where were they located?
You clearly have never managed an election. Finding some website that gives the “rules” that were clearly altered or changed (after Marc Elias took the states to court where rulings on election procedures and processes were issued violating the U.S. Constitution) due to “covid” was nothing more than grand theft.
Stick to what you know (which is not much and damn sure isn’t about election procedures), Michael.
Neither have you. Sitting at a table at a polling place and checking off voters as they arrive does not constitute “managing” an election.
Actually, I have (2016 & 2018) But then, you have to do the “my daddy can beat up your daddy” crap because you know you are ill informed about managing elections.
And I said it did where? But in my state being a poll worker involves more than just sitting in a chair and “checking off” voters. That is why we train them.
Why are you so insecure, groomer? Are you not adult enough to admit you don’t have answers to questions posed to you? Hell, the fact that you couldn’t answer my question about tabulators showed what a election dimwit you are. And you know it, so you obfuscate. Just like Comrade Greggie.
I doubt you have ever seen a tabulator. Much less be able to answer what kind were used at State Farm Arena in Fulton County, Georgia.
As I said, stick with what you know (which isn’t much).
That should read “Iraqi,” of course.)
Democrats simply believe their ruling elite have the sole right to pick who the candidate will be because it is their job to supply the fraud to get that candidate elected.