Courting Disaster in Colorado
In their defense of "our democracy," progressives embrace voter suppression
Say this for Donald J. Trump: His awfulness casts a spell over those who hate him most, driving them to expose the malign stupidity that festers at the root of their virtuous posturing. Case in point: the four progressive activists in black robes on the Colorado Supreme Court.
Malign stupidity is just the term for these so-called jurists, who have somehow managed to convince themselves that in order to save “our democracy,” they have to destroy it. Specifically, they’ve ruled (1) that Donald J. Trump is guilty of “insurrection” and (2) that as an insurrectionist, he’s ineligible to appear on the ballot in the Centennial State. They base this ruling on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1868, which reads as follows:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Though the Court’s 4-3 ruling runs to more than two hundred pages, it fails to explain just how Trump engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States. And there’s a good reason for that omission, since neither Trump nor anybody else connected to the events of January 6, 2021, has been charged with or convicted of insurrection.
Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment states that “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” In fact, Congress had already done so with the Second Confiscation Act (1862). The current federal law regarding insurrection, which is included in 18 U.S. Code Chapter 115, builds on that foundation. Insurrection, therefore, is defined in law. And no court, anywhere in the United States, has the authority to navigate around that law. Donald Trump may be—I believe he is—a bad man. But bad people as well as good people are entitled to due process. If Trump’s guilty of insurrection, let him be charged with that crime. Let him be tried for it. But the Colorado Supreme Court simply declared that in its opinion, the former president is an insurrectionist. There was no indictment, no trial by jury, no opportunity to present a defense. In the literal sense of the word, therefore, the Court’s ruling was lawless.
And naturally, that ruling was applauded by many progressives, whose respect for norms, institutions, and the law stops short of giving the devil his due. When it comes to destroying Trump, anything goes—including the democratic principles they affect to value so highly.
Colorado is a purple state that Trump would be unlikely to carry should he run for president next year. In 2020, Biden beat him there by an eight-point margin. But mark this: 1,364,607 Coloradans voted for Trump in 2020 and at least as many would likely vote for him in 2024. What the state’s high court is attempting to do, and what progressives are cheering, is the effective disenfranchisement of those voters. “Our democracy” is to be defended by depriving a million and a half American citizens of a fundamental democratic right.
It’s the height of hypocrisy—or would be if progressives were conscious of what they’re doing. But they aren’t, not really. For progressives are working with a definition of democracy that excludes outcomes inimical to their ideology. This is why all Republican presidential candidates are denounced as fascists, why morons like Naomi Wolf and Rachel Maddow write books purporting to show that Republicans and conservatives are Nazi-like extremists, etc. In progressive eyes, the definition of fascist and Nazi boils down to not progressive.
To be fair, there are some on the Left who’ve expressed misgivings about the Colorado Supreme Court’s crazy ruling. It’s not that they have any respect or sympathy for Trump, but they have noticed that lawfare doesn’t work very well against him. Despite having been charged with ninety-one felonies, the former president holds a small but definite lead over Joe Biden—and it’s quite possible that he could beat the incumbent in a 2024 rematch. Millions of Americans are convinced that the charges lodged against Trump are politically motivated. Millions compare his record with that of Biden—greatly to the latter’s disfavor.
Now comes the Left with a campaign to get Trump off the ballot in as many states as possible, on the grounds that he’s an “insurrectionist.” How can they fail to see that it’s grist to the MAGA mill? For years Trump has been saying that the “deep state” is out to get him—and it’s really beginning to look as though he has a point.
It seems likely that the US Supreme Court will slap down the Colorado high court’s intervention in the electoral process, which can only be described as a gross and reckless abuse of power. But if it’s allowed to stand and progressives in other states follow Colorado’s lead, the country will be plunged into a political crisis that could tear it apart. Then indeed it may happen that the Left’s defense of “our democracy” ends up destroying democracy in America.
In order to be accepted and supported by its communities, justice has to be seen to be just.
American justice is failing its test.
Both in the apparent two tier justice system (compare the treatment 1/6 rioters with BLM rioters, or compare Paul Manafort with Hunter Biden), and the lawfare against Trump (4 simultaneous legal actions!!!).
Once citizens decide that the justice system is unjust, compliance comes from fear, not respect.
Once justice has to rely on fear to extract compliance, we are on the road to a dictatorship.
Yes.
I don't mind the CSC shooting itself in the foot -I am surprised it was a 4-3 decision- but they may have shot us all in the foot, if this turns into some bizarre sort of judicial movement. I used to think Trump was a clown, but I was forced to give him respect for what little he managed to accomplish. And his enemies are mostly mine, too. I will likely vote for him in 2024. If there is an election.