At this point, you can almost smell the desperation in the air on the left as the 2024 primaries approach. In Colorado, the liberal group CREW (hilariously named “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington”) has filed a lawsuit seeking to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in that state based on a dubious new interpretation of the 14th Amendment. If this move is somehow approved, it could set the stage for what might be the left’s only path to keeping Trump from returning to the White House based on accusations that he participated in an “insurrection.” This “novel” legal theory (to put it charitably) has become all the rage in liberal circles this year as the Democrats face the prospect of Trump simply running away with the GOP primary and very possibly the general election as well. But would the Supreme Court even consider such a scheme? (Associated Press)

A liberal group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to bar former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, arguing he is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.”

The lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment, is likely the initial step in a legal challenge that seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. The complaint was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

It will jolt an already unsettled 2024 primary campaign that features the leading Republican candidate facing four separate criminal cases.

CREW is asking that the court not only take up the case but do so expeditiously, so it can be resolved before the state’s primary ballot is finalized on January 5th. If they somehow prevail, the case, along with others like it expected in other states, would almost certainly be rushed to the Supreme Court for an emergency finding.

So how would that work out? If there is any rationality left in our legal system, SCOTUS should bounce this case out on its ear. I’ve checked out a number of bits of analysis from constitutional scholars such as Jonathan Turley, and most of them agree that there is little to no basis for such an application of the 14th Amendment. The amendment has shown up in many Supreme Court cases since its passage in 1868, but since the 1870s almost all of them have invoked the equal protection aspects of the amendment. The so-called “disqualification clause” that CREW is seeking to invoke rapidly fell out of favor.

The disqualification clause forbids people who participated in an insurrection or a rebellion from running for public office. It was intended to keep former Confederate officials from running for Congress after the Civil War. But even if you could convince one court that the January 6 riot qualified as an attempt at an insurrection, it’s still not a proven fact. There was no question that the Civil War happened and no court was required to establish that as a fact. But Donald Trump hasn’t been convicted of anything related to January 6 at this point. Accepting this premise would open the door to allowing anyone who was even near the Capitol on that day to be barred from holding any public office for the rest of their lives.

This case in Colorado is clearly a case of despondent and desperate Democrats scrambling to find some way to keep Trump off of the ballot. They are terrified at the prospect of another Trump presidency, and if they can’t beat him at the ballot box, they will try to do it by using the courts. If they succeed, many others who have a vested interest in preserving the core, permanent power structure in Washington will follow suit. And you can bet that they will be doing this to more people than just Donald Trump in the future. Anyone who threatens to shake up the “business as usual” routine inside the Beltway will be in their sights.