This week, Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump could be removed from the ballot via Section III of the 14th Amendment.
In response, at least one other state is exploring the idea, but now Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is floating the idea of removing Biden from the ballot due to the lack of border control.
A lot of people are extremely upset over the Colorado ruling, but this will finally allow the Supreme Court of the United States to decide on the matter, which is a good thing.
Section III of the 14th Amendment states that those involved in or lending aid to insurrectionists are no longer eligible to hold office in this country. Donald Trump has never been formally accused, let alone convicted, of doing either.
The sticking point here is that Section III does not require someone to be convicted of insurrection, but most legal experts would agree that merely accusing someone of insurrection does not make it so, and that is more or less what happened in Colorado, with the majority believing that Trump incited an insurrection, thereby disqualifying him from office (they did stay the ruling until Trump’s appeal can be heard).
Something to hang on to here is that three of the justices dissented, all writing their own opinions, and all three appointed by a Democrat governor. The dissents were scathing, calling out the four majority members for unprecedented actions they thought were complete overreach (You can read the majority and all dissenting opinions on CBS News – click here).
After the ruling was announced, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick pushed back, suggesting that Texas may remove Biden from the ballot for the irresponsible border policies of this administration. He stated:
“Seeing what happened in Colorado tonight … makes me think — except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history.”
So, let’s address the elephant in the room… did Donald Trump incite an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6?
I have stated from the outset that I thought Trump holding that rally was a bad idea, especially after chatter was picked up that bad actors were planning something nefarious that day. To that point, Trump claimed that he offered reserve troops, and Pelosi declined to use them for security. Trump did tell the rallygoers to head to the Capitol, but he told them to protest peacefully at the Capitol, not start a riot.
Democrats had the word “insurrection” going right from the outset, and they continued to push that narrative until the media bought in, and what most would consider to be a “riot” was suddenly labeled an insurrection. So, the key point the Supreme Court will have to decide is if the riot at the Capitol was, in fact, an insurrection, meaning a legitimate uprising against the government where control of the government was at stake and if Trump incited it.
I don’t see any possibility that the Supreme Court will uphold that ruling, but that will also bring scrutiny from the talking heads in the media because Trump has three justices that he appointed currently on the bench. The only way this ruling will not be ridiculed is if the court unanimously blocks the Colorado order.
