On December 19, 2023, Colorado’s
Supreme Court ruled that Don Trump, a former U.S. president, had engaged in
insurrectionist activity as a matter of fact, and furthermore, as a matter of
law, the U.S. Constitution bars him from holding any office, including
the presidency. With an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a certainty, realized
even by the Colorado justices, and some notable (and very visible) Republicans
arguing that the American people should have the final say on whether Trump
will be president again beginning in 2025, the question of who should have the
final say—the judiciary or the people—was pressing, and indeed, very important.
I contend that the determination of fact should have been made by a jury in a
criminal proceeding, and that even absent that, the ultimate decision should
still be made prior to, and thus not during, the election, for the question is
whether Trump can be listed as a candidate for the office. Ultimately, the
tension lies between the value of a politics-free judiciary and democratic
(majority) rule.
The full essay is at "The Colorado Supreme Court Bars Insurrectionist Trump."
