DENVER (AP) 鈥 A Colorado judge has rejected an attempt by former President Donald Trump to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to keep him off the state ballot, ruling that his objections on free-speech grounds did not apply.
Trump鈥檚 attorneys argued that a Colorado law protecting people from being sued over exercising their free speech rights from , but Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace said that law doesn鈥檛 apply in this case.
The law also conflicted with a state requirement to get the question about Trump's eligibility resolved quickly 鈥 before a Jan. 5 deadline for presidential candidates' names to certified for the Colorado primary, Wallace wrote.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington claims in its lawsuit that putting Trump on the ballot in Colorado would violate a provision of the that bars people who have 鈥渆ngaged in insurrection鈥 against the Constitution from holding office.
The group鈥檚 chief counsel, Donald K. Sherman, welcomed Wallace鈥檚 decision, which was made late Wednesday. He called it a 鈥渨ell-reasoned and very detailed order鈥 in a statement Thursday. A Denver-based attorney for Trump, Geoffrey Blue, didn't immediately return a phone message Thursday seeking comment.
The Colorado case is one of several involving Trump that stand to test the Civil War-era constitutional amendment, which has never been ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with lawsuits filed in and , it has a good chance of reaching the nation鈥檚 high court.
The lawsuits also involve one of filed against him in Washington, D.C., and Georgia for his attempt to overturn 鈥 that he is being penalized for engaging in free speech to disagree with the validity of the vote tally.
The Colorado case will focus in part on the meaning of 鈥渋nsurrection鈥 under the 14th Amendment, whether it applies only to waging war on the U.S. or can apply to Trump's goading of a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to halt the certification of President Joe Biden's win.
Trump's attorneys dispute that it applies to his attempt to undo the . They also assert that the 14th Amendment requires an act of Congress to be enforced and that it doesn't apply to Trump, anyway.
Trump swore a presidential oath to 鈥減reserve, protect and defend鈥 the Constitution, but the text of the 14th Amendment says it applies to those who have sworn oaths to 鈥渟upport鈥 the Constitution, Blue pointed out the sematic difference in an Oct. 6 filing in the case.
Both oaths 鈥減ut a weighty burden on the oath-taker,鈥 but those who wrote the amendment were aware of the difference, Blue argued.
鈥淭he framers of the 14th Amendment never intended for it to apply to the President,鈥 he wrote.
The trial to determine Trump's eligibility for the Colorado ballot is scheduled to start Oct. 30.
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Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
