The squeeze is on
Remember when Donald Trump said to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger: “I need you to find 11,780 votes?” I need 49 states to find the guts that the Colorado Supreme Court displayed by removing Donald Trump from the Colorado ballot. Once Trump appeals to the Supreme Court and they make a ruling, every state will be free to follow that ruling, good or bad. Already, the whiny Republicans have threated to take Joe Biden off the ballots in states under their control. They haven’t even bothered to read the Court’s opinion, which disqualified Trump because he led an insurrection. President Biden has done nothing, and they cannot lawfully take him off their ballots. Republicans merely continue to display their unfitness for public office.
The Court was more than clear in its ruling, writing in part: “President Trump did not merely incite the insurrection. Even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes. These actions constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection.” Why Republicans continue to pretend January 6 never happened is a mystery. We all watched it unfold and watched the destruction that followed. Trump should not only be removed from the ballot in Colorado, but he should be removed in all states.
Most believe that, given Trump appointed three justices to SCOTUS, they will overturn Colorado’s decision and mandate his inclusion on the ballot. The judge who wrote the deciding opinion; however, used a previous ruling by Neil Gorsuch which included the words: “a state’s legitimate interest in protecting the integrity and practical functioning of the political process permits it to exclude from the ballot candidates who are constitutionally prohibited from assuming office.” Will Gorsuch stick with his earlier opinion or will he find some way to twist it to suit letting Trump off the hook? It may not matter, as things seem to be coming to a head with respect to Donald Trump.
Glenn Kirschner reported that the Supreme Court has indicated that they plan to review Jack Smith’s petition and plan to quickly decide whether to take up the case. Trump has been ordered to respond by December 20. Now, the D.C. Court of Appeals has jumped in and announced they plan to hear Trump’s appeal on January 9 and have ordered that all briefs be filed by January 2. Of course, if the Court of Appeals decide in the prosecution’s favor, Trump will simply appeal to SCOTUS, but Smith has already circumvented that move by asking for a quick review by SCOTUS, which they have granted. At the same time all this is happening, a court has ordered Scott Perry to turn over 1,659 documents to government investigators that may well show his involvement in Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Things are moving at light speed, and courts don’t normally move this quickly. They all know the ramifications of their rulings.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years