'Splitting of hairs' in Trump insurrection ruling leaves writer 'gobsmacked'

A judge raised serious questions about Donald Trump's involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, but the fact the former president may remain on the ballot in Colorado due to a technicality has left one onlooker shocked.

District Judge Sarah Wallace handed down a ruling late Friday afternoon in a challenge to Trump's eligibility under the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause and found the ex-president had engaged in an insurrection through incitement. But she also declared the amendment's drafters did not include the president as an "officer" of the United States, wrote MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown.

"Wallace ruled that it’s both unclear from the amendment’s phrasing whether the presidency is an 'office … under the United States' that someone could be blocked from holding, or whether 'Trump took an oath as ‘an officer of the United States' when he became president," Brown wrote.

"It’s a stance that left me gobsmacked when I first read it because it may be the finest splitting of hairs that I’ve ever seen in so crucial a ruling," he added.

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Even if the amendment's drafters never imagined a president might violate his oath to the Constitution, Trump, “Stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes," according to a recent Justice Department court filing.

"Yes, it’s true that Trump is an anomaly in many ways," Brown wrote. "His attempt to stay in the White House after losing the 2020 election has raised a number of questions that our political and legal systems have never had to answer ... and while he has not been convicted in either the federal election interference case or the one brought in Georgia, his well-established efforts to overturn a lawful election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power cannot and should not be underemphasized in these rulings."