CREW Files Amicus Briefs Ahead Of Colorado Supreme Court Oral Arguments 

The watchdog group that filed a lawsuit challenging former President Donald Trump’s eligibility in the 2024 election filed amicus briefs ahead of oral arguments before the Colorado Supreme Court. 

A total of four briefs were filed just days ago and come from experts including former Dean of Harvard Law School Martha Minow, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law Erwin Chemerinsky, and academic Carol Anderson. Another brief from former Colorado Secretary of State Mary Estill Buchanan was also filed. 

The briefs come after the watchdog group filed an appeal to District Court Judge Sarah Wallace’s ruling arguing that Wallace was incorrect in that it was unclear the section of the 14th Amendment was intended to apply to presidents. 

The briefs chiefly argue in support of the appeal, covering the history of the 14th amendment challenge and the irrelevance of a First Amendment defense for inciting insurrection.

The brief filed by Buchanan said that whether the District Court’s findings and conclusions are either affimed or reversed, “amici respectfully urge this Court to keep the focus of the appeal fixed upon the substantive merits of the case – the question of whether Trump broke his oath by engaging in insurrection against the Constitution, and whether such engagement bars him from holding the office of the Presidency in the future – rather than the other procedural or jurisdiction challenges that the District Court has heard and rejected from Mr. Trump.” 

Buchanan argued that while the Supreme Court of the U.S. “may ultimately have the final word on the meaning of the Disqualification Clause,” Colorado’s state Supreme Court “has the unique and powerful opportunity to frame that question in the way it should be framed.”

The briefs also come just days before the group is set to present oral arguments before the state’s Supreme Court in its appeal. 

Colorado is just one of several states to bring the challenge against the former president, using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. 

CREW President Noah Bookbinder previously said in a statement, “We always knew this case would end up before the Colorado Supreme Court, and have been preparing for that from the beginning.” 

The challenge, rarely used since its creation, has thrust courts across the country into uncharted territory but legal scholars remain in agreement that the case will end up at the Supreme Court for a final ruling.