A court in Colorado is hearing arguments that attempt to use an «insurrection» clause to block former President Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
DENVER — Lawyers for a group of Colorado voters on Monday focused on the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trump’s role, opening a trial that could determine whether the Constitution’s insurrection clause bars Trump from running again for the White House.
Attorney Eric Olson recounted Trump’s violent rhetoric preceding the Jan. 6 attack and his encouraging a crowd that came within «40 feet» of the vice president when they stormed the Capitol. He said Trump «summoned and organized the mob.»
«We are here because Trump claims, after all that, that he has the right to be president again,» Olson said. «But our Constitution, the shared charter of our nation, says he cannot do so.»
Trump’s legal team and presidential campaign assailed the lawsuit as little more than an attempt by Democrats to derail his attempt to reclaim his old job. Trump is so far dominating the Republican presidential primary.
Before the trial on the lawsuit began, his lawyers filed a motion to have the judge recuse herself because she had donated in the past to a liberal group in the state. She said no. The campaign also noted the current lawsuit was filed by a liberal nonprofit in a state that voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
«They send money to these dark money groups — they go to a Democratic jurisdiction and a Democratic judge,» Trump spokesman Jason Miller said.
Monday’s hearing in Colorado state court is the first of two lawsuits that could end up reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. On Thursday, the Minnesota Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a similar case.
Ultimately, either the Colorado or Minnesota case is expected to land at the U.
