Quick Take on the Colorado Supreme Court's Anti-Democratic Ruling on Donald Trump
On why polarization leads to hyper-partisan courts and why it's a small world after all.
Like many of you, when I saw that the Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling barring Donald Trump from the Colorado Republican Presidential Primary, I was surprised. But, I wasn’t THAT surprised because Colorado has turned so blue since 2007 that anything that happens there now is just par for the course. As a former Coloradan who has always loved that state, it is heartbreaking to see how crazy its politics have become in which four lawyers can prohibit 45% of Colorado residents from voting for their candidate of choice.
As those who know me know, I consider myself a reformed lawyer who has been legally sober for nearly twenty-two years. Leaving the practice of law was among the best decisions I ever made. I only practiced law for roughly four years before the mind-numbing paper shuffling drove me to take a 50% paycut to run a congressional campaign in Colorado. I take a Shakespearean view of lawyers that they should all be disposed of:-)
My legal analysis, therefore, rests on shaky ground, as I haven’t cracked open a law tomb in over two decades. That said, I’ve written extensively about federalism and the Constitution. To keep it simple, I simply don’t see how an APPELLATE COURT (versus a trial court) can unilaterally declare that Trump is guilty of insurrection rendering him ineligible for the election. Forget that not one case against Trump has gone to trial yet resulting in a conviction. Not one of the 91 counts against Trump across the four indictments accuses him of insurrection under the relevant statute. While I understand the 14th Amendment provision the Colorado Supreme Court uses to disqualify Trump doesn’t technically require a trial (“…shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion”), the 5th Amendment’s guarantee of due process (applying to state governments via the 14th Amendment) before someone’s life, liberty, or property is taken by the government DOES require something more than four appellate judges naval gazing about whether Trump did or did not engage in insurrection or rebellion. And don’t point to the U.S. House’s impeachment circus as evidence of Trump getting his due process. He was acquitted in the U.S. Senate. The bottom line is I’ll be surprised if the U.S. Supreme Court allows this ruling to stand based on a violation of Trump’s basic due process rights.
I also find it to be the height of cowardice that not one of the four justices had the guts to put their name down as the opinion writer. Most certainly not a profile in courage.
Politically, the left-wing partisans on the Colorado Supreme Court, like so many Trump enemies, have made it MORE LIKELY he will win a second presidential term than not. Their ruling makes America look even more third world despoty than it already looked based on the four indictments of Trump, Joe Biden’s primary political opponent. It is mildly ironic given how much time the Left has spent since 2016 accusing Trump of being like Vladimir Putin that their indictments of Trump and this “judicial” ruling are far more like what happens in Russia under Putin than anything Trump has ever done.
This outcome is perfectly in line with what we should expect to happen in our hyperpartisan country. The four justices came from elite universities surrounded by other liberal progressives, spent time in elite law firms or other elite institutions surrounded by other liberal progressives, live in elite communities surrounded by other liberal progressives, and likely are surrounded by friends and family who are liberal progressives. Those friends and families members will congratulate them, tell them how brave they were, and give them awards for saving “our democracy.” They likely don’t know one person who will say to them: “What the hell did you just do? You should have just let the people decide.”
Our slide to civil war continues.
Finally, on it being a small world after all. Imagine my shock upon learning that two of the four Colorado Supreme Court justices, Monica Marquez and Rich Gabriel, are former colleagues of mine from the Denver law firm I worked at for three years. Both were Democrats, of course, but I wouldn’t have dreamed they would hold the pens that twenty-two years later would make world news. I liked Monica. We came from different political viewpoints, but she was always pleasant and very very smart. Rich on the other hand was an insufferable ass always bragging about something and name dropping that he worked on a case involving Michael Jackson. He is the textbook case of the annoying Ivy League lawyer who everyone wants to punch. Just seeing his picture elicited a punch reflect:-) I wasn’t surprised to learn Monica made it to the Colorado Supreme Court, but can’t believe someone put Rich on the court.
What a small world indeed…