This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
Lawsuit in leftist state avoided involving Republicans, who pick their own candidate
Leftists in Colorado have filed a lawsuit trying to finagle a way to use the 14th Amendment to keep President Donald Trump off the 2024 presidential ballot.
“The Left is desperate to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in various key states by arguing that an obscure provision of the 14th Amendment disqualifies Donald Trump from even running from office,” explained a report at the American Center for Law and Justice.
They’re using a provision that was adopted after the Civil War that banned those who tried to overthrow the government from returning and being officers.
The ACLJ said the “brazen” attempt to eliminate the choice of Trump for voters reveals the “desperate” attitude of Democrats.
The Colorado case, by six voters and the leftist Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, named Donald Trump and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a far-left activist who claims Trump is a “liar with no respect for the Constitution,” as defendants.
But the plaintiffs left out the Colorado Republican Committee.
“This is where the ACLJ comes in. It is the state party, not the Colorado secretary of state, that decides who the Republican nominees are going to be in the presidential election. CREW is trying to circumvent the Republican Party and deny it the chance to defend its own ability to choose its candidates for president,” the ACLJ reported.
“The secretary of state’s only job is to provide the voters with the names of the people selected by the political process. It is the Republican Party that is actually supposed to select their nominee to present to the voters. This lawsuit would take away its ability to make that selection.”
The legal team said it now is representing the state committee, which is seeking to preserve its right to present to the voters the candidates it chooses.
“This case represents an unprecedented assault on Americans’ constitutional right to vote, and we are taking urgent legal action to fight back. We just filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit on the Republican Committee’s behalf. By filing that motion, the Colorado Republican Committee is seeking to join in this lawsuit and help defend the Constitution and the rule of law from these creative and novel attacks that would deny voters the opportunity to choose the candidates of their choice,” the ACLJ reported.
The ACLJ report, by Jay and Jordan Sekulow, described the situation as a ” constitutional crisis.”
“This lawsuit would usurp from the people their opportunity to vote for the candidates of their choosing,” they explained.
They noted that the 14th Amendment “does not apply to former presidents.”
It was a “Civil War provision that disqualifies anyone who commits insurrection or gives aid and support to our country’s enemies from holding political office. But, contrary to the way this provision has been described in the media, it only applies to people who held certain positions, such as members of Congress, state legislators, ‘or as an officer of the United States.’ As the Supreme Court of the United States has explained, the president is not an officer of the United States but the head of the executive branch, with authority to appoint those officers.”
Further, the amendment does not grant permission to any secretary of state – or “anyone else” – to unilaterally remove a candidate from the ballot.
“If it did, it would allow for the arbitrary removal of any candidate without due process, without trial, and perhaps with a simple declaration by the Colorado secretary of state or some other secretary of state that the candidate is ineligible.”
The amendment, in fact, operates “by the legislation of Congress in its ordinary course.”
Even more to the point, Congress separately “provided the mechanism for people to be removed from election ballots under the 14th Amendment by enacting a statute, 18 U.S.C § 2383, which prohibits participation in rebellion or insurrection and provides that those found guilty of violating this statute ‘shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.’”
The Democrats’ problem here is that Trump has never even been charged, much less convicted, of the requisite offense.
“This case presents one of the biggest constitutional crises of modern history,” the ACLJ explained. “The Constitution, our system of democratic elections in our constitutional republic, the right of a party to designate its candidates of choice for its members – and ultimately the voters’ right to choose who they vote for, and due process, are all under assault.”
WND reported earlier when the lawsuit conflated Trump’s criticism of faults in the 2020 election and the Civil War.
Copyright 2023 WND News Center
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