Legal expert: Colorado is ‘special’ in the fight to keep Trump out of the election
Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe shared his insights on the power of a Colorado lawsuit seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.
Six Colorado voters filed the lawsuit last week with help from the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
It argues that Trump is barred from appearing on the state’s ballot in the presidential election under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The provision states that anyone who rebels against the Constitution after taking an oath to defend it is prohibited from holding office.
Stamm told MSNBC’s Ari Velshi on Sunday The lawsuit represents the most challenging yet, in part because the plaintiffs “clearly have standing to sue under Colorado law” and solid research supports their lawsuit.
Tribe explained that Colorado is “a special place” because “Colorado, unlike many other states, has a specific law that allows registered voters to take the Secretary of State to court and demand that the Secretary of State expel anyone who doesn’t “fulfills all requirements.” the qualifications, even at the primary level.”
Tribe expects the case to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Discussions about Trump’s electability gained momentum after two conservative constitutional lawyers published arguments on the 14th Amendment last month.
After studying the issue in depth, they concluded that Trump was disqualified from holding office.
Questions remained about how the issue would be enforced, who would administer it and whether Trump was simply ineligible to hold or run for office.
According to Tribe and other legal experts, the provision is self-executing and Trump’s disqualification is exactly the same – as it would be if he had already served two terms or been under 35 years old.
If a two-term president tried to get on the ballot, the secretary of state would conclude in a hearing that the person was ineligible under the Constitution, Tribe said.
“Of course that is the case. more controversial because it’s not as mechanical,” he said of the 14th Amendment. “And that’s why it would have to be a complex hearing. You couldn’t just say, ‘Oh, he’s obviously an insurgent.’ End of case.” Of course, in this process we must explore the meaning of the uprising, what it means to participate in it, to give it help and comfort.”
“I think it’s pretty obvious to most people that if Trump didn’t qualify, no one would do it,” he added.
Trump has called the disqualification efforts “election interference” and succeeded a reprimand by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D), who is named alongside Trump in the lawsuit.
“Donald Trump incited an insurrection, and there are major constitutional questions surrounding this provision about barring him from voting in Colorado,” Griswold told MSNBC on Saturday. “So we’re going to see this litigation through, and ultimately I think it’s important for a court to get involved to provide guidance.”
Similar efforts are also underway in other countries. The nonprofit group Free Speech for People, wrote to Secretaries of state in several states, including Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin, called on them to bar Trump from the election.
Aside from these legal efforts, Trump has been charged four times for a total of 91 crimes. Two of the cases involve his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. A belief wouldn’t necessarily stop him from taking office.
