(PatriotWise.com) — The judge overseeing a lawsuit seeking to disqualify Donald Trump from appearing on Colorado’s 2024 presidential ballot on Wednesday denied the former president’s motion to dismiss, The Hill reported.
The lawsuit is one of several around the country arguing that Trump is not eligible to run for office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies anyone who engages in “insurrection or rebellion.”
In their motion to dismiss, attorneys for the Trump campaign had argued that Trump’s actions and remarks on January 6 did not rise to the level of inciting an insurrection and that the lawsuit should be thrown out.
However, Judge Sarah Wallace on Wednesday denied the motion and allowed the suit to continue, saying there was a need for the case to be fully argued given the unique legal questions posed, particularly the relationship between the 14th and 1st Amendment arguments brought by the plaintiffs and defendant.
Judge Wallace said she was denying Trump’s request for a directed verdict since granting a directed verdict would require her to decide the “many legal issues that I’m simply not prepared to decide today.”
Wallace said she would be in a better position to decide the case after Trump’s attorneys have fully argued their position.
In the hearings thus far, the plaintiffs in the case have argued that Trump was responsible for the events of January 6 due to his long-standing relationship with extremists. They maintained that the January 6 riot was by definition an insurrection, as the word is used in the 14th Amendment, and therefore Section 3 would disqualify Donald Trump from holding office.
Similar lawsuits to keep Trump off the ballot have also been filed in Michigan, New Hampshire, and Minnesota.
In California, Democrat lawmakers in September asked the state attorney general to seek a court opinion on whether Trump is disqualified from appearing on the California ballot.
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