The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) backed a lawsuit to veto Donald Trump's participation in the Colorado primary. As a rationale, it cited the controversial Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The constitutional section states that anyone who has taken an oath to the Constitution may not return to public office if he participated in an "insurrection or rebellion" or provided "aid or comfort to enemies" of the supreme law of the land. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of six voters, alleges the former Republican president did just that by trying to reverse the results of the 2020 election, after being sworn into office in 2017.
Another recent attempt to use the Fourteenth Amendment against Trump was dismissed by the Florida Justice. However, unlike that court filing, filed by a Floridian lawyer and two other citizens, this attempt has the support of a formal institution. CREW is a non-profit organization that, on its website, defines Trump as "the most corrupt president in American history." The organization also boasts of suing Trump on his first day in the Oval Office.
"This case will provide guidance to election officials on Trump's eligibility as a candidate for office," Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said. Like her, secretaries of state from different parts of the country said they were studying the applicability of the Fourteenth Amendment in the upcoming presidential elections.
I look forward to the Colorado Court’s substantive resolution of the issues, and am hopeful that this case will provide guidance to election officials on Trump’s eligibility as a candidate for office.https://t.co/EtXWCDZCo3
— Jena Griswold (@JenaGriswold) September 6, 2023
The opinion of jurists is heterogeneous. Among them, Alan Dershowitz's warning that this is the most serious threat against the former president, because it could be applied without the need for a judicial decision. In theory, it would be enough for an election official to remove Donald Trump's name from the electoral list. This, according to Dershowitz:
Would put the decision about who the President is in the hands of local Secretaries of State and Democratic governors, instead of in the hands of the people.
