Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the government watchdog organization involved in the recently filed Colorado lawsuit challenging ex-President Donald Trump’s eligibility for the ballot in 2024, is promising more action in additional jurisdictions.
“The state has a statutory provision requiring the secretary of state to exclude constitutionally ineligible candidates from the ballot and law providing for eligible voters to challenge in court improper presidential candidates,” CREW leadership said in a new article. “Those laws, along with the primary calendar and the presence of unflinching plaintiffs willing to bring the case, make Colorado the right place to start. Not every state has the necessary statutory regime to bring viable challenges to enforce Section 3, but Colorado will certainly not be the last state where such litigation is brought.” The organization has established that they best be taken at their word, as they telegraphed before the Colorado lawsuit was brought that they’d file such litigation.
At issue are the provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that bar certain individuals connected to insurrections from elected office. Key voices involved in trying to apply these standards to Trump have insisted that the factual record already established is enough to enforce what they believe to be Trump’s disqualification per the Constitution — meaning further action by Congress or specific criminal charges or convictions aren’t what these observers anticipate to be required. What happened at the Capitol met, according to multiple standards, the definition of an insurrection, and Trump has been tied to what occurred there through multiple, tangible means. He was impeached on the basis of the idea he incited it, and various participants have tied their actions to the ex-president’s inspiration.
In a recent discussion on MSNBC, Supreme Court lawyer Neal Katyal shared he expects at least some success for the Colorado dispute in its early stages but also suggested a path that will quickly take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, new charges could emerge from the January 6 investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, reports have suggested.
