Sorry Joe, but another attempt to thwart Trump’s presidential comeback has failed. On Friday, a judge ruled that Donald Trump’s name will remain on the Colorado 2024 Republican primary ballot.
"The court orders the Secretary of State to place Donald J. Trump on the presidential primary ballot when it certifies the ballot on January 5, 2024,” ruled U.S. District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace.
A left-wing watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and six Colorado voters sought to disqualify Trump from the ballot based using Disqualifications Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states that anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” can't hold federal office. The lawsuit falsely alleged that Trump was involved in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Similar efforts to block Trump from the ballot in New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Michigan have also failed.
The Trump campaign applauded the ruling.
"We applaud today’s ruling in Colorado, which is another nail in the coffin of the un-American ballot challenges. With this decision, Democrats’ 14th Amendment challenges have now been defeated in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire. These cases represent the most cynical and blatant political attempts to interfere with the upcoming presidential election by desperate Democrats who know Crooked Joe Biden is a failed president on the fast track to defeat,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. "The American voter has a Constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choosing, with President Donald J. Trump leading by massive numbers. This right was correctly preserved in Colorado today and we urge the swift disposal of any and all remaining Democrat ballot challenges. Onward to total victory in 2024, we will Make America Great Again!"
In her ruling, Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled that the 14th Amendment didn’t specifically apply to president of the United States.
“After considering the arguments on both sides, the Court is persuaded that ‘officers of the United States,’ did not include the President of the United States,” she wrote in her ruling. “It appears to the Court that for whatever reason the drafters of Section Three did not intend to include a person who had only taken the Presidential Oath.”
Wallace, who was appointed by Democrat Governor Jared Polis, nevertheless falsely concluded that Trump incited the riot, ignoring the fact that Trump was still speaking when the violence at the Capitol began, but there’s also ample evidence that the riot was preplanned by various groups. Perhaps more importantly, Trump specifically called on his supporters to engage in peaceful protest. “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” Trump said in his speech.
“The Court finds that Petitioners have established that Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 through incitement, and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump’s speech,” Wallace ruled, before doubling down with more baseless claims. “Such incendiary rhetoric, issued by a speaker who routinely embraced political violence and had inflamed the anger of his supporters leading up to the certification, was likely to incite imminent lawlessness and disorder."
While this is a legal victory for Trump, too many on the left are holding on to the belief that Trump incited an insurrection, even though he didn’t incite anything, and it wasn’t an insurrection—just like they still hold onto the belief that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election, despite there being zero evidence.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member