Keep off the ballot.......

Colorado voters tell the Supreme Court January 6 violence should keep Trump off the ballot

From CNN's Joan Biskupic, Devan Cole and Marshall Cohen

The Colorado voters trying to disqualify Donald Trump from the state ballot told the Supreme Court on Friday that the violence the former president provoked on January 6, 2021, qualifies as an insurrection under the terms of the Constitution and bars him from holding future office.

Lawyers for the group of voters filed their brief several days before their deadline of next week, seeking to forcefully respond to Trump’s legal arguments that the President is excluded from the disputed section of the 14th Amendment.

“The most violent attack on our nation’s Capitol since the War of 1812 — an attack which obstructed the peaceful transfer of presidential power for the first time in American history — meets any plausible definition of ‘insurrection against the Constitution,’” the challengers wrote.

Specifically responding to Trump’s leading argument in his brief filed last week, that the president is not an “officer” under the terms of the Constitution, the voters’ lawyers wrote, “Section 3 does not give a free pass to insurrectionist Presidents; they are ‘officers’ because they hold an ‘office.’ And states’ broad authority to regulate presidential elections allows them to exclude constitutionally ineligible candidates from the ballot.”

Section 3 bars certain elected officials, including an “officer of the United States,” from holding “any office” in the future if they have “engaged in insurrection” or aided a rebellion.