🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Donald Trump's legal team has said that the section of the Constitution's insurrection clause cited to bar the former president from the ballots in Colorado does not apply to him.
In filings submitted to the Supreme Court, which is due to hear arguments on whether Trump can be banned from running for the presidency in Colorado over claims he engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, Trump's lawyers said that the wording of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment means it does not apply to the Republican as he was not an "officer" of the United States while president.
The amendment states that a person who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after taking an oath of office to support the Constitution should be barred from running for office again—and in a historic ruling in late December, the Colorado Supreme Court banned Trump from running for president in the state for violating this during the January 6 riot. A similar decision to ban Trump from running for office was also handed down by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in December 2023.
Trump appealed both rulings, with the Supreme Court set to determine whether the frontrunner in the GOP primary can appear on the ballots in Colorado. The decision from the country's highest court will apply nationwide, effectively ending any attempts to prevent Trump from seeking a return to the White House while citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
In their Reply Brief in advance of Thursday's oral arguments at the Supreme Court, Trump's legal team said Section 3 contains two "reticulated lists of officers and offices, neither of which expressly mentions the president."
As well as the wording of the amendment, Trump's legal team also lists a number of other reasons why the insurrection clause does not apply to the former president as suggested by Norma Anderson, the Colorado Republican and lead plaintiff in the case seeking to disqualify Trump from the Centennial State's presidential ballot.
"The president is not 'appointed' by the Electoral College; he is elected. And only an appointed and not an elected official can be an 'officer of the United States,'" Trump's lawyers said.
"House and Senate members, for example, are elected rather than 'appointed,' so they cannot qualify as 'officers of the United States' under the "otherwise provided for" caveat. The Constitution consistently describes the President as elected and not appointed, and he cannot be regarded as an 'officer of the United States for the same reason."
Trump's legal team also dismissed accusations that the former president's actions in and around the January 6 attack at the Capitol amounted to him supporting or taking part in an insurrection.
"This is wrong on every count," they wrote. "There was no 'insurrection,' President Trump did not 'incite' anything, and President Trump did not 'engage in' anything that constitutes 'insurrection.'"
Elsewhere, the Supreme Court filings repeats another one of Trump's defenses to suggest Section 3 does not apply to people running for president as Trump technically did not swear an oath to "support" the Constitution. Instead, during his January 2017 inauguration, Trump swore to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution during his role as president.
Trump's attorneys also cited his recent wins in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary as reasons he should be included on Colorado's ballot.
"He is the presumptive Republican nominee and the leading candidate for President of the United States. In our system of 'government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,' the American people—not courts or election officials—should choose the next President of the United States."
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more