Dec 28, 2023 2 min read

Colorado decision is anti-democratic

Oren Spiegler is correct in saying Colorado’s decision to ban President Trump from the ballot is “historic.” However, it is “historic” in that it is anti-democratic and an assault on the Constitution it cites. It misinterprets the 14th Amendment and robs voters of their Constitutional right to vote for or against Trump.

The 14th Amendment was not ratified to replace the authority of the U.S. Senate to impeach a president. Please remember that Trump has not been successfully impeached. A state does not have the power to deny a former president a place on its ballot for whatever political reasons it supposes. Colorado is usurping the authority of the U.S. Senate. That would be a very dangerous precedent if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also, Trump has not been charged or convicted of taking part in an insurrection. That might be because what happened on January 6, 2021, was not by definition an insurrection. If my memory is correct, a member of the Capitol police fired the only gunshot during that protest. The law rests upon a person being “innocent until proven guilty.”

It is noteworthy to remember that the 14th Amendment was ratified after the Civil War on July 9, 1868. In part it was created to keep those who fought for the South from running for certain offices, chief among them the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, which are named specifically in Article 3.

Trump and President Joe Biden are both flawed individuals, but Colorado is violating the U.S. Constitution in denying Trump a place on its ballot. Do those who support Biden want a Republican state to ban him from its ballot when he has not been convicted of an impeachable offense?

Richard Kauffman

Canonsburg