Voters in Colorado Case lay out their argument to block Trump from the ballot

A group of Colorado voters took their arguments to the Supreme Court on Friday over why former President Donald J. Trump should be barred from the state's primary ballot, arguing that his actions leading up to the attack on the Capitol of January 6, 2021 amounted to an uprising.

In a court filing that included photos of rioters attacking the Capitol and tweets from Mr. Trump, voters vigorously alleged that Mr. Trump had incited a brazen attack on democracy, betraying his oath of office.

“As president, Trump has sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” the voter letter said. It added: “Rather than peacefully relinquish power, Trump deliberately organized and incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol in a desperate attempt to stop the counting of electoral votes cast against him to prevent.”

Mr. Trump's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to intervene after the Colorado Supreme Court declared him ineligible, ruling that he engaged in an insurrection in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, prior to the insurrection in the Capitol, to be undone.

The justices are expected to hear the Trump v. Anderson case, No. 23-719, on Feb. 8, less than a month before Super Tuesday, when many states, including Colorado, hold their primaries.

The central issue in the case is the meaning of a clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was added in the aftermath of the Civil War. That language prohibits the holding of office by those “who, having previously taken an oath, serve as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of a legislature of any State, or as an executive or judicial officer of a state, in support of the Constitution of the United States,” “have taken part in any insurrection or rebellion against the same, or have given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

That ban can be lifted with a two-thirds majority in each chamber of Congress.

In their brief, Colorado voters argued that Trump had not fully grappled with the crux of the matter in his legal filing: whether or not he was involved in an insurrection.

In his letter, Mr. Trump focused on whether Section 3 applied to him, arguing that it did not because the clause did not explicitly list the president as one of the officials. “The President is not an 'officer of the United States' as that term is used in the Constitution,” Mr. Trump's letter said.

Advocates for Colorado voters oppose this interpretation.

“Section 3 does not give a free pass to insurgent presidents,” their letter said. “They are 'officers' because they hold an 'office'.”

They added: “It would defy common sense to say that Section 3 disqualifies every oath-breaking defiant officer (up to the postmaster or the sheriff) except the most powerful – a former commander-in-chief.”

The letter focused heavily on the history of the amendment, describing how sparingly it had been used for more than a century “because rebellion against the Constitution was mercifully rare.”

They argued that Trump's actions leading up to the attack on the Capitol amounted to insurrection.

“Trump refused to accept defeat,” the letter said. “Instead, Trump incited an angry mob to attack the Capitol and disrupt the certification of his electoral defeat.”

After weeks of tweeting by Mr Trump, it added: “on January 6, Trump lit the fuse.”

“Trump knew the risk of violence and knew the crowd was angry and armed,” the letter continued. “Trump incited violence both explicitly and implicitly during his speech in the Ellipse.”

Throughout the assignment were photos of the January 6 attack. One showed the outside of the building in chaos as rioters rushed inside. Blue banners reading “Trump 2020” were on display.

Another photo showed a man in a police uniform wincing in pain as he was pinned between a door frame. The accompanying description read: “The mob brutally and repeatedly crushed another witness, Officer Daniel Hodges, in a metal door frame as they attempted to breach the entrance to the Capitol.”

The filing also included images of Mr. Trump's tweets after his election loss and in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, including a Dec. 19 post in which Mr. Trump wrote: “Major protest in DC on Jan. 6. Be there, it will be wild!”

The lawyers posted a timeline of Trump's tweets with photos of the rioters storming the Capitol, writing that he was “celebrating the violence.”

A response from Mr Trump, if he submits one, is due on February 5.