Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal group, filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State in Colorado and former President Donald Trump, who is seeking to run again for the presidency in 2024, on behalf of six voters.
The group argued in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that, under the 14th Amendment, those who have supported an “insurrection” cannot hold office. They allege that President Trump’s challenge of the 2020 election results constituted just that.
“Due to his disqualification under Section 3, Trump is constitutionally ineligible to assume the Office of the President,” they wrote, arguing that it is part of the secretary of state’s duties to keep him off the ballot for both the primary and general election. They argue that the secretary has not committed to doing so, and “based on historical practice” doesn’t seem likely to, and ask a judge to declare her actions to allow President Trump on the ballot “a breach or neglect of duty or other wrongful act.”
A similar case was recently tossed out in Florida, where Judge Robin Rosenberg, an appointee of Democrat President Barack Obama, stated that she lacked jurisdiction.
“An individual citizen does not have standing to challenge whether another individual is qualified to hold public office,” she wrote.
Several suits of this nature are expected to be filed in various states as the 2024 elections draw near, as liberal groups have been vocal about this strategy to keep President Trump, the GOP frontrunner by far, off the ballot.
Legal experts have disagreed on whether President Trump’s actions in 2020 after the general election constitution “insurrection,” some noting that the criminal cases against him for his contest of the election results do not charge him with such.
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, in the wake of the Civil War.
It granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves. It also allowed the federal government to punish states that infringed on citizens’ right to vote, and prevented anyone who engaged in insurrections or rebellions against the nation from holding civil, military, or elected office without two-thirds approval from both chambers of Congress. Congress thus required the formerly Confederate states to ratify the 14th Amendment in order to gain federal representation again.
