(HorizonPost.com) – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit in Colorado on Wednesday to bar former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. The lawsuit cites the 14th Amendment and former President Trump’s role in his followers occupying the capital on January 6.
Unaffiliated Colorado voters filed the lawsuit, along with six Republicans, including former state, federal, and local officials. CREW argues that Trump violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley and others have criticized the lawsuit, arguing that it is unrealistic and unsupported by the text and history of the 14th Amendment. Turley has said that the 14th Amendment was written after the Civil War to prevent former Confederates from holding office and that it is not clear that it applies to Trump’s actions.
William Baude from the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen from the University of St. Thomas have authored an article slated for publication in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, which posits that Trump’s actions challenging the 2020 election results might render him ineligible in 2024 for the presidency. Sunny Hostin, a co-host on “The View,” expressed on Tuesday that this legal perspective should be considered to prevent Trump from seeking office again.
Although Section 3 hasn’t frequently been invoked over the past 150 years, primarily due to the absence of insurrections, CREW represented New Mexico residents last year in a lawsuit seeking to oust county commissioner Couy Griffin.
This case marked the only successful application of Section 3 since 1869. The presiding judge ruled that the events of January 6 qualified as an insurrection under the Constitution. Furthermore, anyone who played a role in inciting it—even without resorting to personal violence—was deemed to have participated in the insurrection and was thus barred from office.
The lawsuit will likely face an uphill battle in court, but it could set a precedent for future challenges to Trump’s eligibility to hold office.
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