Republicans rushed to cameras and social media to complain that the Colorado Supreme Court is made up of partisan hacks who simply don't like Donald Trump. That's the reason, many of them claimed that the ruling that he violated the 14th Amendment and thus can't appear on a ballot was undemocratic.
Conservative former Judge Michael Luttig called the Republican claim absurd, saying that what is undemocratic is a president participating in an insurrection.
Speaking to Alicia Menendez on Wednesday, the former acting solicitor general, Neal Katyal, explained that the only reason that the country is in this situation is because of what Donald Trump did after losing the 2020 election.
"And he has a party behind him that hasn't come to grips with that," said Katyal.
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Luttig added to that, saying that the huge outcry from the Republican Party should be about Trump's bad behavior, not the accountability.
"It is not [anti-democratic]. The Constitution itself tells us the disqualifications — or the possible disqualifications of the former president is not what's anti-democratic," said Luttig. "Rather, the Constitution tells us it is the conduct that can give rise to disqualifications under the 14th Amendment."
He simplified, "So, in other words, the framers of the 14th Amendment, Section 3, in particular, on behalf of the American people, wrote into the American people's Constitution that disqualification should follow upon an insurrection or rebellion by one who has previously taken an oath to support the Constitution."
One piece of the decision in the Colorado ruling cites a decision by former Circuit Court Judge Neil Gorsuch. Luttig wouldn't comment on whether that makes things complicated for the now-Supreme Court Justice.
Others have similarly argued that Justice Clarence Thomas has no business being involved in the case because his wife was among those involved in the insurrection.
For originalist-minded justices it becomes a straight-forward case, said Katyal in a later clip.
See the discussion in the video below or at the link here.