Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has scored a concession from the Trump team amid the former’s lawsuit in Colorado challenging the eligibility for the state’s ballots of former President Donald Trump. The case rests on the basis of the much discussed 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which contains prohibitions on individuals holding office if they previously took an oath to defend the Constitution and then were involved in some way in insurrection or provided aid and comfort to enemies of the U.S.
In short, the Trump team pushed earlier for transferring the dispute from state court to federal court — but they then walked that argument back, and there is a court filing available online that appears to outline all of these developments.
“Donald Trump’s attorneys have actually conceded that this case does need to go back to Colorado state court,” CREW’s Noah Bookbinder explained on MSNBC of his current understanding, adding of Colorado specifically: “So there’s a specific law in Colorado that says you can do this and says that these particular people, this particular kind of person can do it. That confers standing in Colorado.”
In the interview, Bookbinder also conveyed again the argument that a criminal conviction directly showing involvement in insurrection specifically is not necessary for the application of those Constitutional rules at issue. Couy Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner removed from office on the basis of such a Constitutional challenge after joining the January 6 crowds in D.C., faced just misdemeanor charges — nothing like seditious conspiracy allegations. Colorado’s Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold is a party to the lawsuit, and she indicated in her own MSNBC interview an openness to the arguments and deference to the courts. Trump has questioned the foundational legitimacy of even examining these questions in further detail.
