Neal Katyal expects success for the Colorado lawsuit recently filed in that state’s court system challenging the eligibility under the U.S. Constitution of Donald Trump for the forthcoming presidential election that’s currently taking shape, though Katyal’s expectation isn’t absolute.
Katyal is a lawyer and former official at the U.S. Justice Department whose past roles include acting solicitor general, where he was tasked with arguing the U.S. position in cases where it was relevant before the U.S. Supreme Court.
His prediction of success was limited to the trial and perhaps appeals court levels in Colorado, leaving the future for the case more open-ended as it moved further. “I think in Colorado, it’ll have a good chance of success because of this legal concept called standing, which in Colorado allows voters, including the six Republican and independent voters who brought this lawsuit here, to basically have standing,” Katyal explained. “That’s different than like Florida, where a case was thrown out. So I think it will succeed in Colorado, or at least succeed and go up through the Colorado courts, and then it’ll reach the U.S. Supreme Court, and it can be expedited in time for a decision by February.”
There’s already been one mess for the Trump team in the Colorado dispute, as they initially sought a transfer to federal court that they then abandoned, agreeing to the plaintiffs’ demands to stay in the state court system in Colorado. Though Trump has predictably claimed there isn’t a foundation for even questioning whether the provisions of the Constitution at issue apply to him, a series of prominent legal voices known as both conservative and liberal have asserted that the restrictions — which cover certain individuals tied to insurrection — are applicable. Several of the top officials in charge of elections at the state level have, in jurisdictions like Colorado and Michigan, indicated they’re paying close attention to the dispute and would be open, if the supporting record was established amid these controversies, to booting Trump.
