Next stop: the Republican Supreme Court:
A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race.
The decision from a court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
“A majority of the court holds that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” the court wrote in its 4-3 decision.
Colorado’s highest court overturned a ruling from a district court judge who found that Trump incited an insurrection for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but said he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the provision was intended to cover the presidency.
The court stayed its decision until Jan. 4, or until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case. [snip]
Colorado officials say the issue must be settled by Jan. 5, the deadline for the state to print its presidential primary ballots.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed nationally to disqualify Trump under Section 3, which was designed to keep former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War. It bars from office anyone who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it, and has been used only a handful of times since the decade after the Civil War. [snip]
The Colorado ruling stands in contrast with the Minnesota Supreme Court, which last month decided that the state party can put anyone it wants on its primary ballot. It dismissed a Section 3 lawsuit but said the plaintiffs could try again during the general election.
In another 14th Amendment case, a Michigan judge ruled that Congress, not the judiciary, should decide whether Trump can stay on the ballot. That ruling is being appealed...(our emphasis)
You can read the ruling here (pdf).
The mixed bag so far would seem to indicate that there's enough cover for the Republican Supreme Court to come down on the side of allowing the Malignant Loser to appear on ballots. Nevertheless, the finding in these courts that the Malignant Loser was culpable in inciting insurrection is significant, and could play into other cases in which the Malignant Loser is involved. While he's certainly earned his disqualification based on his actions, beating him at the polls -- for the third time in terms of the popular vote -- might be the more desired outcome, one that would be less likely to play into his victimization narrative of rigged elections and corrupt courts.
BONUS:
It is notable that the 3 dissenting Justices do so on procedural grounds (which I do not minimize), but do not challenge the findings of the district court about what Trump did.
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) December 19, 2023
I *love* how the Colorado decision directly quotes Neil Gorsuch's *STATE'S RIGHTS* opinions.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) December 20, 2023
I mean, Gorsuch will probably turn into a sniveling hypocrite and reject his own argument, but it's a nice touch from his former stomping grounds.
