{"id":31695,"date":"2023-09-16T19:53:31","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T01:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/could-new-mexico-ban-trump-from-the-ballot\/"},"modified":"2023-09-17T01:53:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-17T01:53:31","slug":"could-new-mexico-ban-trump-from-the-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/could-new-mexico-ban-trump-from-the-ballot\/","title":{"rendered":"Could New Mexico ban Trump from the ballot?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Booking
Booking photos from the Fulton County conspiracy case charging Donald Trump and allies with trying to overturn Georgia\u2019s 2020 election results. Top row, from left Jeffrey Clark, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Michael Roman, Ray Smith, David Shafer, Sen. Shawn Still. Center row, from left, Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro. Bottom row from left, Robert Cheeley, Harrison Floyd, Stephen Lee, Scott Hall, Misty Hampton, Cathleen Latham, Trevian Kutti. (Photos from Fulton County Sheriff\u2019s Office)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A lawsuit filed Sept. 5 in a state court in Colorado is asking a judge to rule that Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the ballot in any future elections in that state, including the upcoming Republican primary.<\/p>\n

Legal experts say a New Mexico case from last year, barring then-Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from holding elected office, sets a precedent for the Colorado case, and Trump\u2019s prospects to appear on the ballot around the country.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks to have Trump barred from the ballot under the rules of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that no one is eligible to hold office if they have previously taken an oath to support the constitution and then \u201cengaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs in the case are four Republican and two independent Colorado voters, including former Colorado House and Senate Majority Leader Norma Anderson.<\/p>\n

A suit filed in Michigan last month and a separate case filed Sept. 12 in Minnesota also seek to bar Trump from the ballot on 14th Amendment grounds.<\/p>\n

A similar suit brought in Florida was dismissed on standing grounds, though the court did not rule on the merits of the case. And two members of the Federalist Society, a right-wing legal organization, penned a recent law review article arguing that Trump cannot hold office under the provisions of the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n

The suit argues that it is \u201ca matter of public record that Jan. 6 was an \u2018insurrection\u2019\u201d and points out that more than a dozen federal courts, as well as Trump\u2019s own lawyers during his second impeachment hearing, have used the word \u201cinsurrection\u201d to describe the riot. Trump\u2019s actions leading up to Jan. 6, and his attempt to exploit the violence at the Capitol to undermine the election process, put him at the head of that insurrection, the suit argues.<\/p>\n

The New Mexico precedent<\/p>\n

The team representing the plaintiffs includes attorneys from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a D.C.-based watchdog organization that previously represented New Mexico voters in the successful effort to ban Griffin from office.<\/p>\n

Donald Sherman, CREW\u2019s Executive Vice President and Chief Counsel, said that the order barring Griffin from office isn\u2019t binding for cases in other states, since that case was brought under New Mexico state law. But it does provide a roadmap for other state courts to look to, Sherman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is authority that we believe is persuasive. It\u2019s the only case since the 1800\u2019s that has reached the merits of this question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 14th Amendment passed in 1868, and Section 3 prevented former Confederates from holding office in post-Civil War America. Prior to the Griffin case, the last Section 3 court case was in 1869, though Congress used Section 3 to bar an elected Socialist from taking his seat in 1919.<\/p>\n

Chris Dodd, head of Dodd Law in Albuquerque, was one of the plaintiff\u2019s attorneys working alongside CREW in the Griffin case. Judges ruling on Trump\u2019s eligibility to hold office are likely to look to that case for guidance, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that they\u2019re very similar. The important thing about Griffin\u2019s case is that a judge has decided that what unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was an insurrection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two major differences between the cases are that unlike Griffin, Trump wasn\u2019t physically present at the Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6. And unlike Griffin, Trump has not been convicted of any crimes related to the riot, though he has been criminally charged in federal and state courts. Neither of those things are likely to matter much, in Dodd\u2019s view.<\/p>\n

\u201cGriffin did not coordinate Jan. 6, he wasn\u2019t involved in planning it. He simply went, he encouraged others to go, while he was there he encouraged what was unfolding. And that was sufficient to result in a finding that he is barred from holding office,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the evidence is likely to show (Trump\u2019s actions) are more severe. And I think the case against Donald Trump is ultimately stronger than it was against Couy Griffin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodd pointed out that former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was recently sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, despite not being physically present at the Capitol. As for the lack of a criminal conviction in Trump\u2019s case, \u201cI don\u2019t think that it plays really any role,\u201d Dodd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGriffin\u2019s conviction in his criminal case was ultimately not determinative of what happened in our civil case against him. It\u2019s two completely separate questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Source NM was unable to reach Griffin for comment on this story.<\/p>\n

Can a similar suit come to New Mexico\u2019s courts?<\/p>\n

Sherman declined to say whether CREW is planning to bring a similar lawsuit in New Mexico. But he\u2019s optimistic that a suit in the state would be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would note that New Mexico is the one place in the country where there\u2019s a clear precedent in state court of whether Jan. 6 was an insurrection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the question might be settled long before New Mexico\u2019s primaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Mexico primary\u2019s pretty late. I imagine this case might be litigated and brought to the Supreme Court and resolved relatively soon,\u201d Sherman said.<\/p>\n

Dodd said there\u2019s been talk amongst New Mexico lawyers about bringing a similar suit, but \u201cI\u2019m not aware of anybody that\u2019s actively preparing to bring a case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source NM reached out to the Republican Party of New Mexico for comment, but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lawsuit in Colorado seeks to bar Trump from appearing on the ballot in future elections. New Mexico set a precedent for the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31695"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}