Denver skies were record warm on Tuesday — a meteorological oddity presaging the fervor of a judicial ruling that would rock America. As the sun set behind the mountains, the Colorado Supreme Court delivered its Anderson v Griswold decision, a watershed moment in our nation’s history.
Hunkered down at my law office, I delved into the weighty 213 pages of Colorado’s most famous appellate case ever. A surge of pride swept through me. Our Centennial State may lead this nation out of a dark place.
Truth and light triumphed in Colorado. A fair trial was held in Denver District Court. Team Trump presented its case, including witnesses Ka$h Patel and Ken Buck. No wonder Team Trump came up more than a dollar short.
Former President Trump clearly engaged in an insurrection. He’s never stopped. We’ve all been witnesses. When asked if he considered Trump an insurrectionist, President Joe Biden accurately stated it’s “self-evident.”
I attended this historic trial at my favorite courthouse. Compelling admissible evidence proved the Trump-led insurrection. You can watch it on C-SPAN. Colorado has long allowed cameras in the courtroom. I’m proud of that, too.
The Colorado Supreme Court voting was close. A single switcheroo and Team Trump would’ve survived yet another state’s 14th Amendment challenge. The U.S. Supreme Court could have ignored the constitutional prohibition on insurrectionists holding federal office.
There’s no ducking the issue now. Other states are waiting and watching.
Colorado’s four-member majority (Justices Hood, Gabriel, Marquez and Hart), made history by hanging together. Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal belittles them as the “Colorado Four.”
These justices should wear that moniker as a badge of honor. No primary author is identified in the eloquent per curiam majority decision. That is rare for a lengthy opinion, but makes sense here.
Disgusting and dangerous attacks on the Colorado Four have predictably flooded social media. Trump promises retribution. Benjamin Franklin proclaimed to those signing the Declaration of Independence: “We must all hang together, or, most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Imagine the pressures, including the prospect of physical violence, that U.S. Supreme Court justices must now contemplate. They should be brave and wise like the Colorado Four and Ben Franklin. Shed the shackles of the tyrant. Our Constitution wisely provides Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. We need to use it or lose it.
What happens if conservative justices band together to repudiate their MAGA masters and assert their own lifetime power? Will there be a Julius Caesar moment? Et tu Clarence and Sam? That’s a fever dream. Thomas and Alito seem entrenched beyond reach, stained by corruption.
But weren’t Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Roberts once normal, regular, Bush-type, Republicans? Consider recent Federalist Society turbulence with Trump. Trump has historically insulted countless members of the judiciary, including his own Supreme Court appointees. Righteous legal payback would be so sweet.
Renowned conservative federal appellate Judge Michael Luttig was in Colorado three Christmases ago when he told an insurrection-curious Vice President Mike Pence he possessed no power to delay the electoral vote counting on January 6. Pence, who is an attorney himself, adhered to Luttig’s wise counsel.
Three Christmas seasons later, Luttig was on MSNBC, telling the world that the U.S. Supreme Court should affirm Colorado’s masterful ruling, which will stand the test of time.
Luttig concluded our Colorado case “now becomes the test of America’s commitment to its democracy, its Constitution, and to the rule of law.” Luttig went on to explain, “This is not a political question.” He further declared, “The ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court yesterday was not a political decision in any way whatsoever, it was a pure and majestic opinion of constitutional law.”
Anderson v. Griswold may be the necessary jolt of evidence-based reality our sleepwalking nation needs. Massive evidence of Trump’s insurrection is magnificently explained by the Colorado Four. They worked brilliantly, and fast.
No more delay. Do it the Colorado way. Colorado’s highest court emphasized how fast electoral ballot access litigation routinely moves through Denver District Court. Colorado’s own Justice Gorsuch knows that.
There are many hooks on which five Trump-supporting justices could hang their robes. Three solo Colorado Supreme Court dissents show three different directions. Denver District Judge Wallace correctly found Trump engaged in insurrection, but she alone, for now, concluded Section 3 is inapplicable to the presidency.
Colorado’s ballot printing deadline of Jan. 5 is incompatible with Trump’s never-ending delay game. Push has come to shove at the same time Special Counsel Jack Smith has big, urgent USA v Trump issues pending before our nation’s highest court.
Profound American history will dominate the dawn of 2024.
As our Colorado Four explained: “We do not reach these conclusions lightly. We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
Kudos to the Colorado Four and Denver District Court for truth-telling. Their brave professionalism makes me proud to be a third-generation Colorado attorney.
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