Plaintiffs — referred to in the judicial parlance of this case’s actual documents as petitioners — have officially filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court in Colorado in the high-profile case seeking to boot Donald Trump from Colorado’s ballot in next year’s presidential race. The case is the work of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and rests on 14th Amendment restrictions on certain individuals who engaged in insurrection later holding office.
The trial judge concluded that Trump had, in fact, engaged in insurrection through his arguable incitement of the crowds that descended on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but this judge concluded that the presidency didn’t procedurally fit with the application of the Constitutional restrictions that CREW and others were seeking.
“We always knew this case would end up before the Colorado Supreme Court, and have been preparing for that from the beginning,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in prepared remarks released this week. “We are planning to build on the trial judge’s incredibly important ruling that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection, and we are ready to take this case as far as necessary to ensure that Donald Trump is removed from the ballot.”
A press release from Bookbinder’s organization also notes some of the wins already scored by their side before the case even made it to trial, with the trial judge having rejected what one tabulation said were at least five attempts from Trump’s corner to derail the proceedings. The judge, for instance, backed the general approach of seeking a resolution of key Constitutional questions through Colorado’s state court system. Meanwhile, Trump’s team was evidently preparing their own appeals that challenged portions of Judge Sarah Wallace’s ruling disfavorable to their cause, which undercuts any narrative of a decisive win for Trump in that he technically remains on track to appear on Colorado’s presidential election ballots next year.
