A Colorado judge on Wednesday denied a request from former President Donald J. Trump’s lawyers to dismiss a case challenging his eligibility to hold office again, saying she was not yet ready to rule on it. which she called “important legal questions, many of which” have never been decided by any court.
Judge Sarah B. Wallace’s decision means the trial will continue for the rest of the week before a final ruling.
This came after a lawyer for Mr Trump filed a motion for a “directed verdict” – essentially a finding, before the defense had even called witnesses, that there was no basis sufficient legality for the plaintiffs to win their case. Team Trump argued that his words and actions leading up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol were definitively protected by the First Amendment. Judge Wallace, who is presiding over the case in state district court in Denver, refused to grant the request.
The case – one of several similar cases across the country – was filed by six Colorado voters who argue that Mr. Trump is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits the exercise of his functions to anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution. after taking an oath to support him.
“To be clear, I am not deciding any of these issues,” Justice Wallace said, referring in particular to the relative weights of the First and 14th Amendments and how they interact with each other. “I deny the motion for a directed verdict because to grant the motion for a directed verdict I would have to decide many legal questions that I am simply not prepared to decide today.”
This is a news article and will be updated.