The former United States president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump should be disqualified from the upcoming presidential election because he “incited a violent mob” in Washington on January 6, 2021, argued a lawyer from the advocacy group during the opening of a trial on Monday (Oct 30).
Amid Trump’s many legal woes, a Colorado court began hearing yet another lawsuit which has sought to bar the Republican from the 2024 presidential election on the grounds that he violated his oath of office by engaging in an insurrection.
The week-long trial began on Monday in a Colorado district court. The lawsuit seeks to bar the state’s top election official from putting Trump on the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The rarely-used, Civil War-era provision ratified in 1868 of the US Constitution bars people who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office after once pledging to support and defend the Constitution.
What are the arguments?
During the opening arguments in the lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Eric Olson, an attorney representing voters and the advocacy group said, “Trump incited a violent mob to attack our Capitol, to stop the peaceful transition of power.”
He added, “We are here because Trump claims that after all that, he has the right to be president again…but our Constitution, our shared charter of our nation, says he cannot do so.”
Then-President Trump reportedly spent weeks ahead of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol after spreading false claims of widespread voter fraud following his defeat in the 2020 election against Democrat Joe Biden.
The former president then encouraged his supporters to rally in Washington and march on the US Capitol where lawmakers were certifying Biden’s win. On the day, Trump only hours of violence later, urged rioters to go home.
Trump’s lawyer, Scott Gesler, has denied that Trump incited supporters to violence and said it would set a dangerous precedent to disqualify him based on “legal theories that have never been embraced by a state or federal court.”
“People should be able to run for office and shouldn’t be punished for their speech.” Gesler also called the lawsuit “anti-democratic” and urged the judge to throw it out.
‘Long shot’
The case, as per Reuters citing several legal experts, raises largely untested legal questions and even if the advocacy group manages to win the final decision may be taken up by the Supreme Court. The apex court is dominated by a 6-3 conservative majority that includes three Trump appointees.
US Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, testified for the Colorado lawsuit and said Trump’s attempts to decrease tensions hours after the violence began did very little to calm the lawmakers who were placed under lockdown and later certified the elections.
“I feared that if Republicans were going to continue to challenge the outcome, the mob would return and the scene on the floor could become combustible,” said Swalwell, as quoted by Reuters.
The former president also faces similar lawsuits brought by advocacy groups in the US states of Michigan and Minnesota.
(With inputs from agencies)
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