14th Amendment case against Donald Trump heading to Colorado Supreme Court

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- The Colorado Supreme Court will hear the appeals of a lower court judge's ruling to keep Donald Trump on the ballot in 2024.

The court decided on Tuesday that it will take up the case after Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled the former president will remain on the ballot. That ruling was appealed by Trump's legal team and plaintiffs who seek to have him disqualified under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.

Wallace ruled last week that Section Three of the 14th Amendment "does not apply to Trump." Her understanding of the text, based in part on witness testimony, is that the president is not included under the term "officer of the United States."

"To lump the presidency in with any other civil or military office is odd indeed and very troubling to the Court because as Intervenors point out, Section Three explicitly lists all federal elected positions except the president and vice president," Wallace wrote.

However, in her ruling she said that the attack on the U.S. Capitol does "easily satisfy this definition of 'insurrection'" and Trump did engage in the insurrection "through incitement." Because his speech is understood as incitement, Wallace said it is not protected under the First Amendment.

The ruling that Trump engaged in an insurrection is the crux of the appeal by the petitioners, which includes a group of Republican and independent voters and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

"While Donald Trump is taking a victory lap claiming he won decisively in district court, it's telling that his lawyers are attempting to overturn that so-called 'victory,'" Noah Bookbinder, president of CREW, said in a statement.

Trump's appeal agreed with Wallace's ruling that Section Three does not apply to him, but it was not a ringing endorsement of the entirety of her ruling.

The appeal challenges the district court's definitions of "engaged in" and "insurrection" laid out in Wallace's ruling, as well as whether Trump's speech is protected under the First Amendment.

"Importantly, this matter encompasses multiple issues of first impression that affect Coloradans' --- and all Americans' -- ability to select a president, particularly if President Trump is barred from the ballot," Trump's appeal reads. "Those errors affect weighty public policy considerations and serve as faulty interpretation of important constitutional issues."

Trump's attorneys are seeking the decision of the state Supreme Court ahead of potential "further review," referring to the likelihood that this case or one similar will reach the U.S. Supreme Court.