Seven years after Peter Strok of the FBI assured his girlfriend that he would not let Trump win the 2016 election and pulled out all stops to launch the Russia Russia attack, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump will not be on the 2024 ballot for the Republican primary in the state.
The Democrats are so terrified of losing next year that they are throwing much mud on the wall hoping something will stick. The impeachment, the partisan J6 committee findings that never looked at what caused the riots or how they could have been prevented, the lawfare using the DOJ, state, county, and city courts, all want one outcome - Stop Trump from winning by criminalizing his conduct.
The 4-3 decision by a panel of seven judges, all appointed over the years by Democratic Party governors in blue Colorado, surprised the judges themselves. By their own admission, they conceded that they were making a weighty decision on an arcane Civil Rights era law that was intended to prevent members of the Confederacy from contesting and winning elections in the United States. This law has never been used against a former president or against the leading candidate of a party.
Democrat activists, ably supported by Never Trump organizations like the Lincoln Project have tried to use various laws to prevent Trump from even appearing on state ballots. The justification in each case is the same. Former President Trump incited an insurrection against official proceedings of Congress to name Joe Biden as the 46th President, and in doing so, he tried to overturn a legitimate election.
The first target for these activists has been the Republican primary elections in some 24 states. The strategy is to deny Trump access to the ballot in each state so that he can fall short in his quest to become the Republican nominee for president. Elections in America are a party matter controlled by the Secretary of State in each state capital. The Colorado case was brought about by TDS activists with this goal in mind.
Similar cases in other states have yielded mixed results. In Minnesota, the state Supreme Court ruled that nothing prevents Trump from being on the Republican ballot, even if he did engage in an insurrection, leaving the door open to future challenges about Trump appearing on the general election ballot.
In Michigan, the verdict was more in Trump‘s favor as the state Supreme Court ruled that they did not have the power to outlaw Trump from the state ballot for a Republican primary, deeming it a party issue.
In the Colorado case, the judges seemed not sure of themselves, which is why they stayed their own decision until Trump has a chance to appeal to the United States Supreme Court or January 4, the last day to file to be on the Republican ballot in the state, which ever happens first.
Given the enormity of the constitutional questions involved, we expect the United States Supreme Court to not only hear the emergency appeal, but rule in Trump’s favor, dealing a blow to desperate TDS activists in 20+ states.
Denying a person the chance to be on the ballot based on an allegation (and not conviction) is tantamount to denying voters a choice to elect their leader - and is inherently undemocratic. We find it hard to believe that the United States Supreme Court will let one voice in a partisan 4-3 judicial majority decide an election in an entire state.
Besides, even the US government’s Special Counsel’s case against Trump involving four charges in the J6 riots does NOT contain the word insurrection, the main legal basis of the Colorado judgment.
As a practical matter, even if the Supreme Court does not hear the case letting the Colorado decision stand, there will be little impact on the Republican contest. The Colorado GOP has offered to go to a caucus system that will not require anyone to be on a ballot. Or, another Republican like Nikki Haley may win Colorado with Trump excluded from the ballot, but his lead is so huge he will still be the party’s nominee. Republican delegate math will ensure this outcome. Recall how Obama clinched the nomination from Hillary in 2008.
Even if Trump was denied a place on the Colorado ballot in the general election, it would not mean much. Biden is likely to win the state anyway and take all of its electoral college votes.
The 2024 election will be decided in a handful of battleground states, like Georgia, PA, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, and Wisconsin, where Trump is leading Biden. The margin is likely to solidify because Americans, especially Independents, see that the various attempts of lawfare against Trump are designed to ensure a Biden or Democratic Party victory. Americans want a fair contest, not a rigged election.
Meanwhile, stay tuned for a constitutional lesson on ballot access and the rights of voters and candidates. This holiday season will bring back political discourse to the dinner table like never before.
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