4:05 pm ET, December 6, 2023
Some justices have focused on the vagueness of the 14th Amendment, which could be good news for Trump
From CNN’s Marshall Cohen
Several of the Colorado justices raised tough questions at anti-Trump protesters and zeroed in on the ambiguity in the 14th Amendment, which does not expressly bar insurgents from serving as president, though insurgents cannot be senators or state officials.
“I come back to the question, if the inclusion of the president is so important, why not spell it out?” asked Judge Carlos Samur. “Why not add president and vice president to the way you pronounce them? They spelled senator or representative.
Justice Melissa Hart said, “Nowhere in the reference to authority does the Constitution enumerate the president.”
Justice Monica Marquez pointed to other provisions of the constitution that refer to “officials” without including the presidency.
These comments may prompt a fair number of justices to uphold the lower court’s ruling that the insurgent ban does not apply to the presidency and therefore cannot be used to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the 2024 race.
A lower court narrowly ruled that Trump should remain on Colorado’s ballot because the ban does not apply to presidents. “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or an elector of the President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or any State,” the provision states. to “uphold” the Constitution Then they rebelled. But nothing was mentioned about the presidency.
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