(RightWing.org) – When it comes to deciding who will hold public office in the United States, the decisions are supposed to be made at the ballot box in fair and open elections. Former President Donald Trump challenged whether the 2020 election results met that high standard, and since then he has been verbally flayed alive and vilified by the Left and RiNOs (Republicans in Name Only) where their weapons of choice have included a second impeachment, dubious criminal indictments, and most recently — a highly debatable state court decision.
Rocky Mountain High on Themselves?
The state Supreme Court of Colorado in a 4-3 decision ruled that the original trial court in the case of Anderson [the lead plaintiff] v. Griswold [Colorado’s secretary of state] had correctly determined that the events of January 6, 2021, did rise to the level of an insurrection under Section 3 of the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution. However, their edict also pronounced that the lower court erred in deciding that the text did not apply to those holding the office of POTUS, and reversed the decision that would have kept the ex-president on the state’s Republican primary ballot.
The case was originally brought by a group of “petitioners” simply seeking a court order compelling Griswold to keep Trump’s name off of the ballot. As the former president’s attorneys argued in the brief submitted to the seven justices, the trial court essentially stripped itself of jurisdiction when it turned a simple matter of interpreting the election code into something much more.
The brief contends that the trial court turned the matter into “an adjudication of the Fourteenth Amendment, independent of the Election Code,” held a trial that included taking in evidence and made a factual finding regarding an insurrection that has never been tried in a criminal court. Perhaps it is unsurprising that the court would rule in this matter, all seven justices were appointed to their position by Democrat governors. What might surprise people is that three of them did not agree with the majority.
Dissenting opinions were written by Chief Justice Brian Boatwright and associate Justices Maria Berkenkotter and Carlos Samour, Jr. Their reasons for dissenting include:
- Chief Justice Boatwright believes that there should be “an insurrection-related conviction.”
- Justice Berkenkotter felt that the Colorado General Assembly never granted the state courts authority and that the majority stitched together some shaky “inferences” and at least one “novel suggestion.”
- Justice Samour wrote, “Our government cannot deprive someone of the right to hold public office without due process of law.”
In the aftermath of all of this, something of a surprise has risen, both Liberal and Conservative news outlets seem to be in agreement. It’s most likely this case will ultimately end up in the hands of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the aftershocks that will rumble could have a dramatic effect on the 2024 election.
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