Trump’s Colorado Ballot Case Could Get Him Kicked off the Ballot, but Could Still Become President

Donald Trump is about to face a very important legal battle as his ballot validity comes under fire in a Colorado case.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against Trump back in July, alleging that his participation in the violence at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, made him incapable of holding office. CREW advocates have alleged that Trump “summoned and organized the mob,” reported the Associated Press. A similar case will soon follow in Minnesota.

Critics contend that Trump broke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment when he allegedly used election fraud rumors to incite the January 6 rioting. The law argues that anybody who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof" is prohibited from holding federal or state office.

Despite the fact that many legal experts believe CREW has a strong case, Trump is still the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, so his removal from Colorado's ballot won't necessarily prevent him from winning again, reports Newsweek. In any case, the Colorado ballot would have had no bearing on the Trump campaign because the state is a Democrat-leaning state and had voted for President Joe Biden by a margin of 14 points in the 2020 election.

This implies that, even if he is not allowed to run for office, Trump is not likely to win the state. As the "tipping point state" in both the 2008 and 2012 elections, Colorado was seen as one of the nation's most competitive battleground states during the 2000s and 2010s. During the Obama administration, statewide elections were won by both Democrats and Republicans; nevertheless, no Republican has won them at the presidential level since 2004.

According to Harvard University professor emeritus of constitutional law Laurence Tribe, who spoke with Newsweek, the plaintiffs in Colorado have "a very strong case" and "clearly have standing" under Colorado law.

"When Trump publicly and obviously took the law into his own hands in an attempt to overturn the basic structure of four-year presidential terms that is at the core of our Constitution, he did exactly what the Disqualification Clause means by engaging in 'insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the US,' which is the very definition of disqualifying conduct under that Clause," Tribe wrote in a statement.

However, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Newsweek that he does not think the 14th Amendment position "can be ultimately sustained on appeal." Nor does he think that January 6th constituted an insurrection.

"Advocates have claimed that they can bar as many as 120 Republicans from Congress for opposing certification. This ignores the fact that Democrats previously opposed Trump's certification without a scintilla of legal or factual support. It would invite tit-for-tat actions in red and blue states," Turley wrote.