Former President Donald Trump appeared to catch a break on Friday when a Colorado state judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify him from office under the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment — a decision that comes off of judges in Minnesota and Michigan dispatching of similar cases in those states.
But not so fast, wrote Trump's former legal strategist Jenna Ellis in a post on her social media account. The judge in fact didn't hand Trump a totally clean victory.
"This is right and the right outcome," wrote Ellis, who has increasingly fallen out with Trump's inner circle and pleaded guilty in the Georgia election racketeering case. "However, after reading the opinion, the statement below conveniently leaves out a critical part — the Court found that Trump 'engaged in insurrection.' The only reason the Court left Trump on the ballot is the opinion that a President is not a 'federal officer' for 14A purposes."
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"It will be interesting to see if either side appeals," Ellis, herself an attorney, added Friday.
Indeed, this appears to be likely; according to Bloomberg News legal reporter Zoe Tillman, attorneys representing the voters who originally brought the suit plan to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.
A number of legal scholars, including former Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe and conservative former federal judge Michael Luttig, have argued that the 14th Amendment's language necessarily disqualifies Trump for having being involved in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
