Colorado versus the court: a poem

They don’t want to do it; don’t want to disrupt.
They fear if they do it all hell will erupt.
Their fears are quite rational, practical too;
Keeping Trump off the ballot would cause a to-do!

Their challenge, of course, what they don’t like to hear ...
Amendment 14, Section 3 is quite clear.
Having sworn to support the U.S. Constitution,
An officer rebelling ‘gainst that institution,
Shall not hold an office of these United States.
What a mess for the Court craven Donald creates.

For the Donald rebelled right in front of our eyes.
He called up his mob — no attempt at disguise.
The Donald just wishes they’d done a bit more.
If given the chance, he would stage an encore.

Oh poor originalists, what do they do now?
The words and intent are their most sacred cow!
Even the “liberals” don’t want to engage,
They all fear the force of the MAGA crowd’s rage?

The prospective decision clearly has them all vexed.
What they need is a fig leaf, a convincing pretext.
Are an office and officer really the same?
Is conviction required to assign any blame?
And so on and so on, the so-called off-ramping.
As onward to victory, the Donald keeps tramping.

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”