The Supreme Court of Colorado:
… President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three; because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.
¶6 We do not reach these conclusions lightly. We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.
¶7 We are also cognizant that we travel in uncharted territory, and that this case presents several issues of first impression….
Trump disqualified from 2024 primary ballot by Colorado Supreme Court – The Washington Post
undoubtedly the loser law firm Delay Delay and Delay will file.
what happens next if scotus drags their feet …. ???
meanwhile in other news
Lava is flowing in Iceland (but everyone’s ok), Biden’s campaign links Trump to Hitler, Rudy Giuliani can’t keep his mouth shut after losing in court, and New York City’s current and former mayors are masters of embarrassing themselves.
So Stumbleville’s hold on promotions was ended yesterday. Stupid ass.
pogo, only because critters wanted to get the hell out of dodge.
the hill:
darcy op ed and cartoon in the heartland today Trump Hitlerisms: Darcy cartoon – cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio — While Trumplican Lemmings continue to hail Trump making him the Republican primary frontrunner, Trump at rallies continues to Heil Hitler rhetoric along with Putin, Kim Jong Un, Hungary’s Victor Orban and China’s XI. All Authoritarians he hopes to mimic all the days after he’s “dictator for a day” upon reelection. Trump’s swastikaesque spewing about “Vermin” and “Poisoning the blood of the country” at New Hampshire rallies has been justifiably called out for echoing Hitler, because it does. Trump has a long history of Adolf adoration. In November at a New Hampshire rally, Trump said the following: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” Hitler from Mein Kampf: “…there was time enough at home at least to exterminate this vermin.” Trump this past Saturday at another New Hampshire rally: “They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done. They’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia, over the world. They’re pouring into our country.” Hitler from Mein Kampf: Great civilizations…died out, as a result of contamination of the blood [poison] to the bloodstream and infect public life…” Vanity Fair reported that Trump’s first wife Ivana had said he used to keep a book of Hitler’s speeches next to their bed. Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly remembers Trump once telling him “well Hitler did a lot of good things.” Kelly also said Trump once asked why Kelly, a retired Marine Corps General and other U.S. generals couldn’t be like the German generals in World War II? Trump made those comments to Kelly in France during the 100th Anniversary of WWII end commemorations. How appropriate. Adolf could be heard heiling Trump from hell. Thought the Trump mantra was just “Make America Great Again” not “Make Nazi’s Great Again.” [the following seems to be apart from the above and a postscripted update] In 2022 at Mar-a-Lago Trump dined with Holocaust denier… Read more »
I started reading the 212-page Colorado opinion last night and finished this morning. It might not make a difference if pro-Trump justices are outcome determinative, but it’s bullet proof, or “unassailable” as conservative former federal Judge Michael Luttig said last night.
Read opinion (pdf) here
For starters, on this notion that the 14th Amendment provision does not apply to presidents, the court easily brushes that off:
Colorado court agreed with the trial judge’s conclusion after an evidentiary hearing that Trump engaged in an insurrection:
Note: Even the three dissenters agreed with that finding of fact.
Will sfb legal beagles jump on the rescue log and go to the court formerly known as supreme? Or will they show their incompetent selves and fail to meet the January 4, 2024 deadline? I tend to go with the latter as they have performed it more often.
George Conway making sense on Morning Joe:
what goes around comes around, donald. remember in 2011 when you, according to ABC, launched a public pursuit of Obama’s birth certificate, announcing that [you had] sent private investigators to Hawaii to see what they could find so that obama would be disqualified? even to this day you’ve continued hinting at the birtherism bit.
might be fun to haul out all those disqualification arguments you and your lawyers spewed back then.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/politics/trump-scott-perry-cell-phone-records/index.html
“The special counsel’s office can access more than 1,600 communications found on Rep. Scott Perry’s cell phone, including some about his interest in assisting former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a new court decision on Tuesday.”
“Specifically, the judge’s decision will hand over to prosecutors several of the Pennsylvania Republican’s messages, including ones that capture his attempts “to work with or influence members of the Executive Branch” as Trump sought to dig up support for disinformation about election fraud.”
“Yet, Chief Judge James Boasberg of the DC District Court is allowing Perry to still protect about 400 records relating directly to votes he would take, including certifying the 2020 election result under the Electoral Count Act.”
Two factors could sway SCOTUS conservatives to uphold or not take the case: Their preference for states rights and originalism.
Trump team is at odds on both, asking feds to overrule a state, and seeking to imply interpretations that are not in the actual words of the provision.
craig, good for george commenting on the lower court having “found this by not just a preponderance of the evidence, which is your lower basic civil court standard, but by clear and convincing evidence” in regard to whether the loser actually engaged in an insurrection.
people should look at the ruling being more in the civil realm’s requirements rather than the criminal beyond-a-reasonable-doubt.
qualification to be on a ballot is a civil matter not a criminal one.
query: by “originalism” do they confine it and the historical zeitgeist they consider only to the document at the time it was originally amended or do they acknowledge later amendments and events?
Pat, they apply it to amendments. If they strictly interpret this provision the way they do the second Amendment there is no question the Colorado Supreme Court is correct.
And for all this hoo-ha about ‘there must be a jury trial” — sorry folks there is no 7th Amendment right to a jury trial in election litigation.
More from Colorado finding he engaged in insurrection:
wonder what the vegas odds are on what SCOTUS will do.
bet there’s quite an array of possibilities to bet on even this early in the game.
I am wondering this morning if some of the conservatives on the Supreme Court might actually want to throw a lifeline to sensible Republicans like Haley by shutting down pumpkin head
patd, echoing Poobah re: originalism. I’m an originalism skeptic – theoretically they apply the use of the words in the document as they were used when the document and the amendments were written (which is what they tell themselves so they can sleep at night) – except when they don’t. The Dobbs decision reflects the contortions of historical context that the lying SOSs will perform to get to the conclusion they want. Their 2nd amendment decisions similarly ignore not only the historical context of the words they choose to read, but also ignore the words that if read would undermine those decisions (e.g. “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, …”).
they contort it to fit whatever ruling they want, Alito was doing originalist gymnastics when he overturned Roe
Oh, sorry, Pogo, i see you agree right down to the verbiage. must be objectively the right description
today’s meme…
https://businessofcannabis.com/florida-files-bill-to-remove-280e-tax-burdens-as-desantis-ties-to-medical-cannabis-industry-brought-into-question/
“Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez has proposed an amendment to Florida’s tax code which would allow cannabis operators to claim tax deductions, a practice currently banned federally by the controversial 280E IRS code.”
“The news comes as CNN reports that Florida’s Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis was ‘courted by key figures in the medical cannabis industry’.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend/id1438054347?i=1000639169916
Here’s the Apple link to the Biden/Conan interview.
Bink, apparently so. One of my favorite legalisms is a close variant – legal legerdemain. Look ,nothing up my sleeve…
This is a cracking good yarn every time. Old Berman tells how he saw the beginnings of the actual Hillary’s “…vast right wing conspiracy…”Shown to him by Laura Ingraham, a kind of pivot man for the operation. C1998
It comes in 3rd segment.
Also a good take on Colorado.
Colorado GOP to Withdraw from Primary, Convert to Caucus If Trump Remains Off Ballot | National Review
pogo & bink, thanks guys. just as i envisioned they convene into a seance an invoke the ghosts of old or the universal soul (or souless in this case) asking it to rap once for no and twice to throw the bum out.
britannica explains it as a
i ain’t that bright and my intelligence is still insulted by that Alito opinion
The whole Keb’ Mo’ Christmas album
https://www.salon.com/2023/12/20/orders-unsealing-of-documents-naming-over-150-jeffrey-epstein-associates/
“Federal judge orders unsealing of documents naming over 150 Jeffrey Epstein associates- A federal judge ordered the documents to be unsealed on January 1”
“Anyone who did not successfully work to have their name excluded from the civil case could see their name released to the public upon the documents’ unsealing, including Epstein’s victims, co-conspirators and innocent associates.”
“…because some of the included individuals have done media interviews their names should not remain private. Some names belong to individuals who were simply included in depositions, email or legal documents, while others belong to people who have already been publicly associated with Epstein.”
Is this going to be a nothing burger?
BiD – ask that last question on Jan. 2.
This is a very odd sentence in that Salon article:
I’m really not sure what to make of that – but then again I know nothing of the lawsuit at issue.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/20/texas-plane-immigrants-chicago-greg-abbott-busing/
“Texas flies over 120 immigrants to Chicago in expansion of Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing plan”
“In total, Texas has bused over 80,000 people from border cities to those six cities, according to the governor’s office. Tuesday’s flight was the first time Texas has used planes to transport immigrant passengers.”
“…in Chicago, city officials there have cracked down on some of the bus drivers coming from Texas, saying they’ve ignored municipal rules on where to drop off the passengers. Last week, the city impounded a bus because the driver was not licensed to transport passengers.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/us/migrant-surge-travel-agencies-smugglers/index.html
“The migrant surge overwhelming US-Mexico border authorities is being driven by pseudo-legitimate travel agencies and organized transportation networks that are advertising travel to the US southern border and ultimately connecting migrants to smugglers, according to a US Customs and Border Protection official.”
“Pseudo-legitimate travel agencies emerging in cities like Dakar, the capital of Senegal, advertise visa-free travel to Europe and then to the US, the official said. The so-called travel packages include a connection to smuggling organizations that facilitate movement to the US southern border with the help of large bus lines in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora that operate dozens of buses a day to random spots on the border, according to the official.”
Nobody runs away from a happy home and a soft life.
Hmmm, but wouldn’t a great way to try to undermine the current administration be to set up or support one these travel agencies? Someone should look into it.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/18/investing/us-steel-nippon-steel-deal/index.html
“US Steel, once the world’s largest corporation, agrees to sell itself to a Japanese company”
“We are confident that … this combination is truly best for all,” said US Steel CEO David Burritt. “Today’s announcement also benefits the United States — ensuring a competitive, domestic steel industry, while strengthening our presence globally.”
“Earlier this summer the United Steelworkers union vowed to only support a proposed offer by another unionized American steel company, Cleveland Cliffs, to buy US Steel, in a cash and stock deal then valued at $32.53 a share, or 40% less than Nippon’s all cash offer. The US Steel board rejected that offer and started considering other bids.”
“The union, which has 11,000 members at US Steel, attacked the Nippon Steel deal on Monday.”
WTF?!?
Amendment XIV Section 3.
No 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.
Orange Adolf directed the mob to assemble, to “fight like hell,” did nothing to stop them for hours, and had continued to promise to get the insurrectionists out of trouble. If SCOTUS doesn’t side with Colorado, we have a bigger problem.
ps – All of the Republicans running for prez are, essentially, propping up Orange Adolf. Are they also guilty of giving aid snd comfort to an enemy of our DEMOCRACY?
Shame on Nikki, and RonDuh, and the rest, even Chris Christie.
📻 🕰️
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