Trump, Plaintiffs Appeal Colorado Fourteenth Amendment Court Ruling that Favored Trump

Donald Trump and the plaintiffs suing to keep him off the 2024 ballot are appealing on different grounds a Colorado court ruling widely considered a victory for Trump.

Judge Sarah Wallace, an appointee of Democrat Gov. Jared Polis, ruled Friday that while Trump did engage in insurrection on January 6, 2021, he was not an officer of the United States as defined by the Fourteenth Amendment, invalidating efforts to disqualify him from the Colorado primary ballot in a narrow victory for the former president.

Plaintiffs in that Colorado case, as in other similar cases across the nation, have used the obscure “Insurrection Clause” in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, a Civil War-era provision which bans those who have held certain positions in government who “engaged in insurrection” from holding federal office, to make the novel legal argument that Trump should be disqualified from appearing on the ballot.

Yet Trump has not been convicted, or even charged, of inciting insurrection and was acquitted by the U.S. Senate of charges of engaging in insurrection. He continues to deny wrongdoing.