In a discussion this week with host Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold condemned the idea that Donald Trump should be able to evade Constitutional standards for office that have been held to block individuals from the presidency who engaged in insurrection after previously taking an oath of office.
The state Supreme Court in Colorado determined that these provisions of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment do apply to the presidency, though Trump brought arguments otherwise to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state court’s decision was put on hold amid continuing litigation, but in general terms, they held Trump to have engaged in insurrection via incitement of the Capitol violence seen in early 2021. Similar challenges to Trump’s eligibility for office have emerged elsewhere.
“Donald Trump is trying to argue he did not incite an insurrection. Well, two Colorado courts at this point have determined that he did,” Griswold observed, referring to both the trial court and Colorado’s highest court, which decided similarly. “And then Trump goes on to argue that even if he did incite the insurrection, well the Constitution doesn’t apply to him. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think that there’s some get-out-of-jail-free card that allows Donald Trump to escape scrutiny of the laws of the land and the Constitution.”
Griswold also emphasized that she believed the U.S. Supreme Court should act quickly in its handling of appeals from Trump.
In a subsequent discussion on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that featured conservative lawyer George Conway and former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, both noted how Trump’s arguments brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of undoing the state ruling in Colorado didn’t even lead with the contention he didn’t engage in insurrection. Perhaps such was an implicit acknowledgement of the relative strength of indications he in fact committed precisely such acts.
Instead, Trump contended to the nation’s highest court that blocking him from ballots would threaten the expression of the right to vote by his supporters. Trump is currently charged for allegedly himself committing precisely such acts — threatening the expression of the right to vote — with his post-2020 election power grabs.
