Colorado Supreme Court will hear Trump 14th Amendment case

Wallace found that Trump did engage in an "insurrection" but that the 14th Amendment did not prevent him from returning to the presidency.

By Ben Whedon

Published: November 22, 2023 3:21pm

The Colorado Supreme Court this week agreed to hear an appeal in the case addressing former President Donald Trump's eligibility to appear on the ballot under the 14th Amendment.

Last week Denver Judge Sarah B. Wallace determined that Trump could remain on the ballot, but the specifics of the ruling prompted appeals from both the former president and the group of voters who brought the original challenge. Wallace found that Trump did engage in an "insurrection" but that the 14th Amendment did not prevent him from returning to the presidency.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed the original challenge, hoping to remove Trump from the ballot in Colorado. Trump meanwhile, also appealed the ruling.

"But the district court nonetheless made legal and factual findings wholly unsupported in the law, and these errors demand review – especially if the Petitioners in this matter also seek review of the sole dispositive issue upon which President Trump prevailed," the former president's attorneys wrote, according to The Hill.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment deals with disqualification from federal office:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Wallace determined that neither the presidency nor vice presidency are officially listed as specified offices for which someone who previously engaged in an insurrection may be disqualified.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.