'No question' Trump 'engaged in insurrection' and should be disqualified: ex-judge
A former judge on Wednesday praised the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Donald Trump from holding political office.
Michael Luttig, a conservative former appeals court judge, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the state's court had correctly decided the issue on its constitutional merits, and he said the U.S. Supreme Court should affirm the ruling based on the evidence against the former president.
"This is not a political question, the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court is not a political decision," Luttig said. "This is a question, and a profoundly important question, of constitutional law."
Earlier in the program, conservative attorney George Conway pointed out that special counsel Jack Smith had not charged Trump with insurrection in his election subversion case, but both he and Luttig agreed that should not matter to the U.S. Supreme Court based on the Colorado court's reading of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
"As to the discussion about the implications of [Tuesday's decision] for Jack Smith's prosecution, these matters are entirely separate," Luttig said. "If the Supreme Court decides to take this case or another under the 14th Amendment question, it's the court's resolution of that decision, that will have nothing whatsoever to do with Jack Smith's prosecution of the former president."
"You know, George Conway is a brilliant lawyer in his own right, and so I don't need to comment on his comments to you earlier this morning, but, yes, George was surprised, but I was not surprised at all," Luttig continued.
"Based upon the objective law in this instance, the 14th Amendment and Section 3, I never had any doubt in the world that when the first court to address the issue, and that is this court [Tuesday] in Colorado, that court would hold that the former president had engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States. To the court's decision [Tuesday] affirming the lower court decision, it was methodical, it was meticulous, and it was comprehensive."
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"There is no question whatsoever that the Supreme Court of the United States ought to affirm that conclusion, that the former president engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States," he added.
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