A Colorado judge on Wednesday rejected a bid by former President Donald Trump to shut down the 14th Amendment case against his 2024 candidacy in the middle of the ongoing trial.
Denver District Court Judge Sarah Wallace said she wanted to let the proceedings move forward and hear more evidence, including on how the First Amendment might protect Trump’s incendiary speech on January 6, 2021, which the challengers have described as a “call to violence.”
With that, Trump began his defense case, featuring testimony from former Pentagon official Kash Patel and former Trump campaign adviser Katrina Pierson, who helped organize the January 6 rally.
It all played out one day before a separate challenge will be heard in Minnesota, where another advocacy group filed a similar lawsuit hoping to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot. Oral arguments are scheduled for Thursday at the Minnesota Supreme Court to weigh Trump’s spot on the state’s ballot.
The 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, says US officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution are disqualified from office if they “engaged in insurrection.” But the Constitution doesn’t say how to enforce the ban, and it has only been applied twice since 1919, which is why many experts view these challenges as a legal long shot.
Here are the latest highlights from Colorado and a preview of what’s to come in Minnesota.
The challengers are six GOP and independent voters, whose lawsuit has the backing of a DC-based watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. They wrapped up their case Wednesday with testimony from one of the leading scholars on the 14th Amendment, who said the insurrection ban applies “broadly” and covers “words of incitement.”
Indiana University law professor…
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