Lawsuit filed to remove Trump from ballot

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Lawsuit filed to remove former President Donald Trump from election ballot in Colorado​

The group, CREW, tells 11 News it believes the former president incited the events on Jan. 6, which it says is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The group claims Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold must immediately disqualify former President Donald Trump from the Colorado ballot.​

KKTV 11 News at 4 (Recurring)
By Brian Sherrod
Published: Sep. 7, 2023 at 8:04 AM GMT+8|Updated: 4 hours ago


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - 11 News is hearing from a Washington-based advocacy group, which filed a lawsuit hoping to prevent former President Donald Trump from appearing on the Colorado ballot.
The group tells 11 News it believes the former president incited the events on Jan. 6, 2021, which it says is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. It’s important to note that the former president has been indicted on four charges tied to the events on Jan. 6 and the 2020 election, but has not been convicted of anything. Despite that, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is being sued. An attorney for the group, CREW, tells 11 News they want a decision on whether former President Trump will be on the ballot before Colorado’s primary election in March.
The attorney for CREW tells 11 News the suit is filed on behalf on six Republicans and unaffiliated Colorado voters. The group claims Griswold must immediately disqualify Trump from the Colorado ballot. CREW tells 11 News the group points to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause.
“If the election gives every voter a voice, that impacts Colorado voters,” said Eric Olson, partner with Olson, Grimsley, Kawanabe, Hinchcliff & Murray LLC. “It makes sure that the people that are on the ballot are qualified to hold office and that no one’s vote doesn’t count because they voted for someone who’s ineligible.”

11 News spoke with a University of Colorado Boulder professor, who explains what this lawsuit could mean for Colorado voters.
“Removing former President Trump from the ballot will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in Colorado who prefer for him to be their candidate,” said Doug Spencer, professor of law, University of Colorado Boulder. “The stakes are very high. The secretary, of course, does not want to disenfranchise voters. Her entire job is to enfranchise voters and get people to turn out.”
11 News received a statement directly from former President Trump’s campaign team. It reads:
“Joe Biden, Democrats, and Never Trumpers are scared to death because they see polls showing President Trump winning in the general election. The people who are pursuing this absurd conspiracy theory and political attack on President Trump are stretching the law beyond recognition much like the political prosecutors in New York, Georgia, and DC. There is no legal basis for this effort except in the minds of those who are pushing it.”

Griswold, who is the state’s chief election official, says,
“Today a lawsuit was filed to determine whether former President Donald J. Trump is disqualified from the Colorado ballot for inciting the January 6th insurrection and attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election. The United States Constitution bars anyone who has taken an oath to protect the Constitution from holding office if they have ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ or ‘given aid or comfort to the enemies’ of the Constitution. I look forward to the Colorado Court’s substantive resolution of the issues, and am hopeful that this case will provide guidance to election officials on Trump’s eligibility as a candidate for office.”
The former President pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges allegedly tied to January 6th, last month. For now, a judge has set March 4th as a trial date, one day before Colorado’s primary on March 5.