Former President Donald Trump scored a major legal win last week after an attempt to remove him from the ballot in Colorado was defeated.
According to Fox News, the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) as well as six voters filed a lawsuit in September challenging Trump's candidacy.
The suit said Trump is precluded from running again due to his conduct on January 6, arguing that it ran afoul of the 14th Amendment's Insurrection Clause. The amendment 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.
However, U.S. District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace disagreed, writing, "The court orders the Secretary of State to place Donald J. Trump on the presidential primary ballot when it certifies the ballot on January 5, 2024."
Fox News noted that Wallace's ruling was welcomed by Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, who said, "The American voter has a Constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choosing, with President Donald J. Trump leading by massive numbers."
Cheung was not alone in celebrating the decision as The Hill noted that Trump attorney Scott Gessler praised it as well.
Given this is the first time any court has determined that Trump engaged in an insurrection, does Trump's team still view this as a win in Colorado? Here's what his attorney said tonight. pic.twitter.com/7u34C5KfCK
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 18, 2023
"At the end of the day … the voters of Colorado are going to be able to make the choice, not a court," Gessler told CNN host Kaitlan Collins this weekend.
"And we’re thankful that she respected the role of voters, and stopped the sort of efforts, or at least the effort in Colorado, which is anti-democratic, trying to strike President Trump off the ballot," he insisted.
This was not the former president's only courtroom victory last week, as Fox News reported on Thursday that Judge David Friedman stayed a gag order which had been imposed by the judge overseeing Trump's New York civil fraud trial.
New York judge lifts Trump gag order in civil fraud trial over free speech concerns https://t.co/m1Cdg3t7aT
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 17, 2023
Friedman maintained that Judge Arthur Engoron's gag order violated Trump's First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
What's more, he also observed that gag orders are typically restricted to criminal trials where there is a concern that jurors may be improperly swayed.
