Trump Made Some Ludicrous Legal Arguments About Staying on the Colorado Ballot

Former US President and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump arrives for a “Commit to Caucus” rally in Clinton, Iowa, on January 6, 2024. (Photo by TANNEN MAURY/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers have a long history of making wild-eyed arguments that sound more like one of Trump’s freewheeling campaign speeches than a carefully-reasoned legal analysis. Yet even by those standards, Trump’s petition to the Supreme Court to reverse his electoral disqualification in Colorado makes some guffaw-inducing claims. Just take the part where it says that Trump never technically vowed to “support” the Constitution, despite being sworn in as president. Or where it makes the rather confusing claim that even if Trump is legally barred from becoming president again, he should still be allowed to campaign for the office—and even win the election. 

Of course, it makes sense that Trump’s team is throwing the kitchen sink at this one: It could be the whole ballgame for the 2024 election. Trump wants the high court to stop any state from booting him off the ballot over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Colorado is simply the first and only state where a court has actually concluded that, yes, Trump participated in an insurrection, and yes, the Constitution therefore bars him from running for president in that state. If Trump loses this Supreme Court appeal, however, more states would have the green light to follow. And similar cases are pending around the country.Colorado’s decision rests on the Constitution’s so-called insurrection clause, which was crafted after the Civil War to stop ex-Confederates from rising to power via the ballot box. Maine has pulled a parallel but distinct move, in which the Secretary of State (not a court) ruled Trump ineligible in response to challenges brought by Republican voters.Of course, some of Trump’s arguments aren’t laughable. His legal team argues that the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in which his supporters used violence to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, was not technically an insurrection. What’s more, they argue, even if it was, Trump wasn’t a part of any insurrection, since he didn’t actually go to the Capitol buildin