Former President Donald Trump disqualified himself from holding public office and his name should be removed from the 2024 Republican primary ballot, a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Colorado district court contends.
The lawsuit, filed by the liberal nonprofit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, cites the “Disqualification Clause” of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who has “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution holding federal or state offices, as well as the basis for the 77-year-old’s ineligibility for the White House.
“If we want the very fabric of our democracy to stand, we must ensure that the Constitution is upheld and that the same people who attacked our democratic system are not put in charge of it,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a release.
“We did not bring this case to make a point, we brought it because it is necessary to defend our republic both today and in the future.”
The complaint was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters represented by CREW and two other law firms and specifically seeks to exclude Trump from the 2024 Colorado primary ballot for his alleged role in “recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a futile attempt to remain in office,” according to the group.
The lawsuit seeks to exclude Trump from the 2024 Republican Party primary election in Colorado, citing the “Disqualification Clause” of the 14th Amendment.
CREW notes that it intends to challenge access to the former commander-in-chief’s ballots in other states as well.
“Based on its laws, schedule, and our brave group of plaintiffs and witnesses, Colorado is a good place to file this first case, but it will not be the last,” the organization said.
The rarely used Disqualification Clause was included in the post-Civil War 14th Amendment as a means to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming elected officials and assuming control of state and federal governments.
Efforts by the liberal nonprofit Free Speech For People to use the 14th Amendment to prevent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-Ga.) from appearing on 2022 midterm ballots failed last year.
However, CREW successfully sued to remove Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from the Otero County Commission in New Mexico after he was convicted of breaking and entering the Capitol building during the Capitol riot. January 6, 2021. The group says its case against Griffin is the only successful Clause of Disqualification to have been filed since 1869.
“While it is unprecedented to bring this type of case against a former president, January 6 was an unprecedented attack that is exactly the type of event that the drafters of the 14th Amendment wanted to create protections in case of,” he argued. Bookbinder.
“You don’t break glass unless there’s an emergency.”
The lawsuit argues that Trump’s alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol is grounds for disqualification from holding public office.
The group says it plans to file lawsuits to block Trump from the primaries in other states as well.X / @CREWcrew
Some legal experts do not believe a 14th Amendment case against Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican primary, will hold up in court.
“The amendment was written to address those participating in an actual rebellion that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said earlier this month.
“Advocates would expand the reference to ‘insurrection or rebellion’ to include unsubstantiated claims and questions related to voter fraud.”
Turley added that he considers the Disqualification Clause theory “not only dubious but also dangerous.”
“According to these defenders, Trump can be excluded from the election without any charge, let alone a conviction, of insurrection or rebellion,” he argued.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn