Dear Neighbor,
Yesterday, in a ground-breaking decision, The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former president Donald Trump’s name would be eliminated from their primary presidential ballot, whose deadline is to be certified by the Colorado Secretary of State on or before January 5, 2024. In defense of their ruling, the majority of the 4-3 decision cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution which states,
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
While the judge in a lower court in November had erroneously claimed that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment did not apply to the office of the President of the United States of America, the language is very clear, especially when clauses not pertinent to Trump are taken out – “No person shall…hold any office…who, having previously taken an oath…as an officer of the United States,…to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same….”
In other words, anyone who served as an officer of the United States, of which the presidency is most certainly one, and who swore an oath to support the Constitution, which several of us witnessed Trump uttering on January 20, 2017, is held to this standard. For the Election Code in the state of Colorado, any breach of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies any political candidate from being named on the ballot.
Considering the indictment of Trump and his impending trial set for March of 2024, it is equally clear that there is sufficient evidence of his incitement of the January 6th 2021 insurrection. Is incitement then…engagement? According to the trial judge in November, and the Colorado Supreme Court, the answer is: yes.
According to the Final Order of the November trial,
“…; it is sufficient, for the Court’s purposes, to find that “engagement” includes
“incitement.”17 The Court agrees with Intervenors that engagement “connotes active,affirmative involvement.” The definition of incitement meets this connotation.
“Incitement,” as the Court has found, requires a voluntary, intentional act in furtherance of an unlawful objective; such an act is an active, affirmative one.” And the Colorado Supreme Court agreed last night, in addition to asserting that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment most certainly applied to the presidency of the United States.
Additionally, the Colorado Election Code has language prohibiting intimidation in general, whether of electors or candidates:
“(b) Intimidation, threats, or coercion
No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, or Member of the House of Representatives, Delegates or Commissioners from the Territories or possessions, at any general, special, or primary election held
solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any such candidate.”
By inciting the Insurrection, Trump was trying to prevent the certification of electoral votes, granted a Washington D.C. jurisdiction, that duly voted in Biden as President of the United States. Indeed, several of Trump’s cronies, including PA-13’s John Joyce, refused to certify, i.e. voted objection to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes. Trump, therefore, caused “such other person (John Joyce et al.)…to not vote for…candidate for the office of President” albeit not in Colorado, but still, we can draw a line from Trump’s rally, through the insurrection, to the objections to certifying the votes.
Ergo, Trump should not appear on any presidential ballots, and frankly, John Joyce should be voted out of office for his slobering sycophancy. Please vote for me, Beth Farnham, instead. Donations accepted here: ActBlue
Source:
Beth Farnham for Congress 