Democrats took a new but predictable angle in their quest to keep former President Donald Trump off the presidential ballot in 2024. A watchdog group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking to remove the Republican frontrunner from the ballot in Colorado.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in their filing.
On its website, the organization claimed that Trump “disqualified himself from public office by violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.” They demanded that he not be a choice for Colorado voters in 2024.
One legal expert blasted the maneuvering in Colorado. Speaking to Fox News Tuesday, analyst Jonathan Turley echoed others when he said the move is “the most dangerous theory that has emerged in decades.”
He called the group’s claim unsupported by the 14th Amendment, both in the text and history of its application. It was ratified in the wake of the Civil War in which hundreds of thousands died — hardly a correlation with a protest in Washington, D.C.
A group has filed a lawsuit to bar from appearing on Colorado ballotshttps://t.co/Nex1Gavhd3
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 6, 2023
CREW offered a disputed view of events on Jan. 6.
The leftist outfit alleged that Trump violated his constitutional duty through “recruiting, inciting, and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a futile attempt to remain in office.”
This claim was made despite clear evidence showing the former president instructed supporters to act in a peaceful manner.
CREW President Noah Bookbinder claimed that his organization was not spearheading the legal move to prove a point. He called it a defense of the nation today and in the future.
He further said that the framers of the 14th Amendment had incidents like Jan. 6 in mind — and apparently not the Civil War.
Some on the left are encouraged by a controversial case last year in which a New Mexico county commissioner was barred from office. Couy Griffin participated in the Jan. 6 protest, and Democrats charged that he was disqualified under the 14th Amendment.
The group noted that the judge in the case declared the Jan. 6 protest an “insurrection.” This, they apparently feel, is a signal that the same action used on a county commissioner can disqualify the GOP frontrunner from the Colorado ballot next year.
There will undoubtedly be more such actions in blue states, and only one or two would need to be successful to virtually guarantee a victory for the Democrat. Whoever that might be.
