Colorado Supreme Court kicks Donald Trump off the state's 2024 ballot for violating the U.S. Constitution

So which will SCOTUS rule:

A. January 6 wasn't really an insurrection;

B. Trump didn't participate;

C. The 14th Amendment doesn't really mean what the plain words of it say it means

?

My bet is C

SCOTUS refused to entertain Trump's election lie. Don't be so certain they will be friendly to him this time. I hate the current SCOTUS, but they can surprise you sometimes.
- It's also not like he can retaliate in any way (other than trying to provoke his supporters into acting). They are set up for life, and can continue to influence the country for years to come with or without him. They may choose to let him drown.
- Ill wait until all the ~~opinions~~ bribes are cast
- Thomas almost feels like he has an obligation to something other than his wallet, so he's slowed down on the radically unpopular rulings.
- The only certainty is that Roberts and the liberal judges would definitely not be onboard with ignoring the 14th. Kavanagh probably, Thomas all but certainly.
- We can definitely hope. But it's really going to come down to how well the individuals are owned.
  If this were just a panel of supreme Court justices voting along their biases, It's anybody's guess what they could do. But they're not exactly impartial and lots of people have lots of dirt against them then gobs and gobs of political power.
or D, an obscure quote from the Old Testament about the power of Kings and their scepters and orbs and whatnot
- Is it good enough in English? Or are we dealing with the real thing?
- Qualifications for being President is a constutional issue.
Unlike other republicans who are at the whim of trump, the Supreme Court can’t really be touched and don’t have to bow down to him while still being shitty republicans.
- I dunno. The consequence of an unfavorable ruling is that the bribes stop.
They will probably pass it back to the states. It's not like the blue states were going to vote for Trump anyways, and the "unfairness" of it will probably boost him in purple and red states.
- They will probably pass it back to the states
  If you want chaos, this would be the best bet.
- It’s extremely risky for him. It looks like this was brought by citizens. Citizens in purple states could also bring it and get the same result. Some might say yes, some say no, but if enough say no name on ballot, he has no path to victory.
  Would the republicans implode, choose among the trash candidates they currently have in the debates, or would someone new step up?
The 14th amendment also guarantees the right to seek medical treatment. Yet women are denied this right.
- The 14th amendment does not guarantee any sort of right to any specific healthcare.
  If it did, one assumes abortion proponents would have used that language in lieu of privacy as in Roe v Wade
The Supreme Court doesn't really have any say in how states run their elections. That's the only wrinkle I see on this. If they tried to dictate state elections, states could just ignore it.
- The question is if Trump qualifies to be president per the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. The states don't decide that, SCOTUS does.
Going with C. Without explicit language to the president, they will need to interpret this to mean the president included, which may be up to anyone’s interpretation.
I feel it should, however it could be argued it doesn’t.
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
- It cannot be argued in good faith. Talking about the presidency as an office has been a thing forever, and therefore the president is an officer. He's also an officer just by the plain meaning of the word officer. I never heard one peep to the contrary until people started looking for a way for Trump to weasel his way out of the 14th amendment.
- Trump wss just committed to the continuity of government at all costs. Including the republic itself.
  (That is the likely argument)
Literally anythng that keeps him on the ballot is my guess.
or maybe that he hasnt been convicted yet of it
- That would be "B" there's a B guy here.

Good, this shouldn't even have been a debate. It is clear that Trump attempted a coordinated effort to stay in office. If that's not disqualifying from president, then nothing is.

Cool, if only the states he has a chance of winning would follow suit.

precedent! a ruling here could be used in a non hostile state!
- As much as I'd love to see other states follow, I don't see how this would be relevant in any other state. It's a state supreme court ruling on a issue within their own state. Any other state trying to claim precedence would be really strange
Note that this applies to the primary also, so it might damage him by encouraging his Republican challengers to stay in the race.
- Nah his supporters will write him in for sure.
Not having to spend any campaign money in Colorado means you can spend it elsewhere.

This is a massively historical moment. But, with everything that has happened the last several years this is, quite literally, Tuesday for me.

Current SCotUS is hella corrupt, but I don't see them denying that the individual States control their own elections.

It would certainly be interesting to see the long-term ramifications if they tried.

Sweet, consequences. Cheers Colorado.

Man, Colorado just can't stop winning

Colorado is seemingly a cool state to be in. I'd really consider moving there lately.
- We also just reintroduced wolves and banned grocery bags. One of the most expensive metro to live in, but you look at the states surrounding us and you get why everyone is moving here.
- It really is. They have done some good things, law wise, lately. Cost of living is insane. But it is a pretty swell place and I never want to leave.
Yeah, we’re pretty awesome.
Thank Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold

Nothing is final until the federal supreme court weighs in or the election is final.

At this stage of the game all of the appeals in the world are in play.

ftfa

The court put its decision on hold until Jan. 4 to allow for further appeals. It also said that if the matter is pursued before the U.S. Supreme Court before that date, the pause will remain in effect during that time and Colorado will be required to include Trump’s name on the primary ballot pending action by the Supreme Court.

Article also mentions the supreme court in CO is appointed by all democrats. A big win would be a red state agreeing with this.

I’m not too sure about that. I think it’s pretty open and shut and scotus can’t do anything about it.
Case law has found time and again that states can decide their own election laws, and that the federal government cannot override that except in the most egregious cases.
But the very cases where they chose to defer were huge, election changing cases, like Bush v Gore and the VRA.
I don’t think they can even issue a stay without doing the exact same thing. The current stay is through the 4th because CO law says they have to set the ballots by Jan 5. So even issuing a stay would be the feds overstepping the bounds.
Overstepping their own bounds in fact, since people still on this court decided those cases, and Gorsuch actually ruled on this same Colorado law in favor of CO having the right to control its own ballot.
What this means is very possible sweep in CO, because if Trump isn’t on the ballot, that will hurt turnout which would flip some new areas blue. That’s the entire downticket from senators to dogcatchers.
- I think it’s pretty open and shut and scotus can’t do anything about it.
  Justice Thomas will go on a long vacation aboard a yacht and come back with a different opinion than you.

Someone in Colorado did their job.

Now let's see how many other states follow.

One down, 49 to go!

It won't take 50 to ensure he loses, thankfully.
No, it’s much worse than that. With Trump off the ballot, Biden will automatically win. That’s an automatic 9 point loss for Trump and a 9 point gain for Biden, making Trump start at 18 points down. That’s a lot to make up.
CO would also largely blue from the senate on down because of a depressed turnout without Trump on the ballot.

if he's not on the ballot in CO, they also wouldn't ratify his election.. they may not seem big, but they have the Air Force Academy and NORAD i think..

And the Stargate program
- Shh! We're not supposed to talk about that.
  Err, I mean, what Stargate program?
How does that work, legally speaking? Have we ever had a President in the past century that had states that didn't allow them on the ballot? Outside of having to go all the way back to like Lincoln times.

Colorado has 10 electoral votes.

It hurts republican downballot candidates tho. There's gonna be a number of Trump voters who won't show up if he's not on the ballot and they would have been straight ticket republican votes.
Also this sets a big precedent.
- Colorado is very blue. Most Republicans left for Idaho or Texas a long time ago.
and laws

I’m still scared shitless about the prospect of him winning or being handed the presidency by GOP ghouls, but this is the most hopeful news I’ve seen in a while. Granted at this point I think any Republican candidate would be as bad or worse if they won, none of them have the hold over the base that Trump does. We’ll see if it cascades in a meaningful way but we likely won’t be out of the woods even if it does.

One interesting take here is that the states have complete autonomy, per the constitution, to do their elections however they want. They are only required to select a candidate and send electors as a state. So that could be a great side-step, to say “the state is deciding state election policy for a state, and this is not a federal matter.”

This is a lose-lose. If this is shot down, it's just another case presidents being above the law. If this goes through, the republican states will use it against democratic candidates.

One consequence of this, even though it only applies to the primary and even if it is reversed on appeal, is to effective kill any momentum the NPVIC might have had.

It really punctuated the fact that there is no such thing as a national vote when voters from different states aren't even presented with the same choices. With the electoral college in place, this mostly doesn't matter, but NPVIC would encourage the most partisan states to run up the score for their guy by any means possible.

This is honestly some of the best news I’ve heard all year. Let’s hope it sticks.