Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley said Colorado structured the “pernicious” removal of former President Donald Trump from the state primary ballot in a “clever way” during a Tuesday appearance on “America’s Newsroom.”
Turley said Colorado cleverly allowed for Trump to remain on the ballot as an appeal is pending in the courts, which can possibly “run out the clock” at the U.S. Supreme Court and in turn avoid any legal review on the decision. The decision is expected to be taken up by the Supreme Court, in which there is growing concern among liberals since Trump appointed three of the justices.
“Now there are some mutinous arguments that can be made,” Turley said on “America’s Newsroom.” “It was a very clever way that Colorado structured this decision. If they run out the clock at the Supreme Court, Trump’s name will just remain by default on the ballot, and Colorado can then avoid review. But I’m hoping that they won’t do that. I’m hoping they’ll put an end to this pernicious theory that is deeply destructive to our democratic process.”
Colorado and Maine ruled in December to remove Trump from the ballot citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that no person should hold office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the top election official in Maine argued that Trump engaged in an insurrection during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that Trump will remain on the ballot during the Jan. 5 certification deadline until an appeal at the Supreme Court concludes.
Turley said Colorado and Maine are “outliers” in comparison to the other states that have rejected attempts to remove Trump from the ballot. He said the Supreme Court can hopefully unanimously rule in opposition to these two states and return the former president’s name to the state ballots. (RELATED: ‘Fundamentally Wrong’: Jonathan Turley, Gregg Jarrett Rip ‘Politically Driven’ Legal War Against Trump)
“This theory is wrong. It’s wrong historically, it’s wrong textually, it’s just dead wrong, and I’m hoping that the court will put this to bed,” he continued.
Turley previously said the Supreme Court should unanimously oppose Colorado’s decision since the state Supreme Court added a “destabilizing element” into the U.S. constitutional system. Trump has never been charged or convicted of violating the “insurrection ban” of the Constitution.
“You had a very motivated special counsel, Jack Smith, who hit Trump with anything he could, but he conspicuously left out insurrection, sedition, because he couldn’t prove it, because the evidence is not there. So that only adds to the problems here, but the real issue for the Supreme Court is far more fundamental and frankly chilling,” Turley said during a Dec. 22 appearance on Fox News.
“You know, this country is the most successful and stable constitutional system in history. Now after two centuries of that, what these four justices have done is to introduce a destabilizing element in that system,” he continued.