On January 30, 2024, Common Cause filed our brief before the U.S. Supreme Court urging them to disqualify Donald Trump under the 14th Amendment. In the brief, Common Cause responds to Trump's attempt to evade accountability for stoking insurrection on January 6, 2021 with several fact-based arguments.<\/p>\r\nFirst and foremost, no one is above the law, period. Our laws are meant to apply to everyone equally no matter how famous you are, how much money you make, or what kind of job you have. That includes Donald Trump.\r\n\r\nTo defy the vote of the people, to ignore over 60 court findings affirming the results of the election, to repeatedly stoke armed and angry followers to \u201cfight like hell,\" and to repeatedly call on them to \u201cfight\u201d to overturn the election results - these are acts of insurrection that are anti-democratic and unconstitutional.\r\n\r\nThis case was about more than just Donald Trump: it\u2019s about your right to vote and mine. And the fact is, our rights are NOT safe when candidates who lose elections can resort to stoking violence to nullify votes and subvert the peaceful transfer of power.\r\n
Last December, the Colorado Supreme Court issued three key findings after a week-long trial:<\/p>\r\n\r\n
That landmark ruling immediately provoked a response from Trump, who appealed it to the U.S. Supreme Court. SCOTUS ruled on March 4 to allow Trump to remain on the ballot.<\/p>\r\n
This suit, Anderson v. Griswold, was filed in September on behalf of six Colorado voters by <\/span>Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington<\/span><\/a> (CREW), a nonpartisan government watchdog organization with whom Common Cause partners closely, and Martha Tierney, Common Cause\u2019s National Governing Board Chair & member of the Colorado Common Cause State Advisory Board. Former President Trump filed several motions to dismiss the suit, all of which were denied.<\/span><\/p>\r\n On November 17, Denver District Court found unequivocally that \u201c[Donald] Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 through incitement, and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump\u2019s speech.\u201d <\/span>This is a historic ruling; a presidential candidate has never been found to have engaged in insurrection in the nation's history<\/span><\/b>. The judge stopped short of removing Trump from the Colorado ballot, finding that the authors of the 14th Amendment did not intend for the \"disqualification clause\" to apply to presidents.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The Colorado Supreme Court ruled<\/a> on December 20 that Trump is disqualified from the Colorado ballot.<\/strong> Trump appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on March 4, 2024, SCOTUS ruled that Trump is allowed to remain on the ballot.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Colorado Common Cause is committed to holding the former President accountable to the people and to the Constitution. Trump allowed his desire for power to supersede his own Oath of Office and over two centuries of American political precedent.<\/span><\/span> There must be consequences for insurrection and stoking political violence.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n Trump disqualified himself from holding public office by inciting mob violence<\/span> at the U.S. Capitol<\/span> to prevent the peaceful transition of power on January 6, 2021. To uphold Trump's candidacy would affirm the ability of future outgoing Presidents to mobilize their supporter<\/span>s<\/span> against the peaceful transition of power without any constitutional repercussions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n We submitted a brief to the <\/span>Supreme Court of Colorado, urging the Court to <\/span>affirm<\/span> the District Court\u2019s conclusion that Trump engaged in insurrection and that the First Amendment does not protect his speech, and that the Court <\/span>should reverse the lower court's conclusion that the President is not \u201can officer of the United States\u201d for the purposes of the Disqualification <\/span>Clause.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n In a strong democracy, <\/span>elections are decided by the voters at the ballot box, not with violence or intimidation. <\/span>But <\/span>leading up to and on <\/span>January 6<\/span>, Donald Trump refused to respect the will of the voters and instead encouraged his supporters to engage in <\/span>deadly acts<\/span>, including physically assaulting law enforcement.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n The insurrection <\/span>on <\/span>January 6 was not an accident. For weeks<\/span>, Trump and his accomplices planned and plotted to <\/span>throw out the<\/span> election results and <\/span>overrule <\/span>the will of the people <\/span>using<\/span> violence. <\/span>We cannot let political violence <\/span>go<\/span> excused, especially for the highest office in the <\/span>nation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n We must <\/span>continue<\/span> to reject anti-democratic efforts to steal our elections. No one is above the law, not even former presidents.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified by the states in 1868, provides that: <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n During the post Civil War Reconstruction period, Congress drafted Section 3 to disqualify from public office anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and subsequently engaged in \u201cinsurrection or rebellion\u201d against the US. Former Confederate states were electing former Confederate officials to federal office, and Congress needed a way to bar unrepentant insurrectionists from public office. Several officials were removed from office due to their roles in the Confederacy until Congress passed an Amnesty Act in 1872.<\/span><\/p>\r\n While this case is historic in its aim to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot, this suit was filed on the one-year anniversary of CREW winning the first case in 150 years enforcing Section 3. Couy Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner, was part of the mob on the Capitol grounds the day of the insurrection. A New Mexico court ruled the January 6th attack was an insurrection and that Griffin engaged in it despite the fact that he was not violent himself that day and did not enter the Capitol building. Upon the judge\u2019s ruling that Griffin was disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, he was immediately removed from office. That case was the first enforcement of Section 3 in court in more than 150 years, and it set a strong precedent for CREW\u2019s lawsuit in Colorado against Donald Trump. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n _________________________<\/b><\/p>\r\n Colorado Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empowers all people to make their voices heard in the political process.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n <\/p>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_take_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_take_action":{"heading":"Take Action","button_text":"","manually_curate":false,"action":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_banner","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_banner":{"use_donate_banner":true,"title":"Title [highlight]with highlighting[\/highlight] and additional text.","button":null,"image":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_related_articles","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_related_articles":{"heading":"Updates","button_text":"See all Related Articles","manually_curate":false,"articles":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_resources","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_resources":{"heading":"Related Resources","button_text":"See all Related Resources","manually_curate":false,"resource":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_press","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_press":{"heading":"Press","button_text":"","manually_curate":false,"press":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_events","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_events":{"heading":"Events"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_our_experts","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_our_experts":{"heading":"","manually_curate":false,"people":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\n<\/h3>\r\n
Colorado Common Cause weighs in<\/h3>\r\n
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment: The \"Disqualification Clause\"<\/h3>\r\n
\u201cNo Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.\u201d<\/span><\/blockquote>\r\n
Resources<\/h3>\r\n
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