Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace, an appointee of Democrat Gov. Jared Polis on the bench for less than a year, rejected a motion from former President Donald Trump’s legal team and will allow a lawsuit to remove him from the 2024 ballot to move forward. But far from a defeat for former President Donald Trump, the court gave an entirely unexpected answer to the 14th Amendment challenge to Trump and his team’s challenge of a Secretary of State’s capacity to exclude candidates, essentially saying: ‘That’s a good question.’
In her verbose 24-page opinion, Wallace is careful not to rule on the 14th Amendment argument many conservatives find constitutionally flawed, which many leftist Secretaries of State have threatened to employ against Trump. But rather the Judge insisted that she could not dismiss the case because she couldn’t conclude a ruling without going to trial and hearing arguments “as a matter of law.”
Wallace wrote,
“The Court is not affirmatively holding the Fourteenth Amendment can be used to exclude a presidential candidate from the primary ballot, or that the Secretary of State is empowered to evaluate such a question. The Court is merely holding that it is unable to conclude as a matter of law that to the extent the Fourteenth Amendment applies to prevent ballot access for a Presidential primary candidate, the Secretary of State has no authority to investigate and exclude a candidate on that basis.”
Trump is currently facing legal challenges in several states citing the 14th Amendment in an attempt to exclude him from the 2024 ballot under the nonsensical notion that he “engaged in insurrection or rebellion,” despite never being charged for the said crime in a court, and indeed being acquitted of the same during his second impeachment.
According to Breitbart, the Trump legal team is awaiting one more ruling on a motion to throw out the case. If that motion too should fail, the lawsuit will go to court beginning on October 30th with Wallace presiding.
The outlet reported that a Trump campaign spokesman responded to the development, saying, “[Wallace] is going against the clear weight of legal authority. We are confident the rule of law will prevail, and this decision will be reversed – whether at the Colorado Supreme Court, or at the U.S. Supreme Court.
“To keep the leading candidate for President of the United States off the ballot is simply wrong and un-American.”
The lawsuit against Trump was reportedly initiated by the Nonprofit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
The group was linked to a Democratic strategist David Brock, a long-term Clinton surrogate by InfluenceWatch, and is run by Noah Bookbinder who formerly worked for the New York Times and Washington Post.
InfluenceWatch wrote, “The organization has been recognized as having “played instrumental roles in building a stronger, more integrated progressive infrastructure” by the Democracy Alliance. CREW has received funding from left-of-center foundations, including philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and singer Barbra Streisand’s Streisand Foundation.” Ironically, the group has attacked Republicans for using ‘Dark money’ for years.
Since President Trump’s first term, the group has obsessively worked to prosecute Trump and prominent members of his staff at every turn, and has spearheaded efforts to disqualify him under the 14th Amendment. On Oct. 11th Bookbinder posted to X, “A reminder that there will be an evidentiary hearing on October 30 in @CREWcrew’s lawsuit on behalf of Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters to keep Donald Trump off the ballot as disqualified under the 14th amendment. We look forward to proving our case.”