On January 30, 2024, Common Cause filed a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court urging them to disqualify Donald Trump under the 14th Amendment. In the brief, Common Cause responded to Trump’s attempt to evade accountability for stoking insurrection on January 6, 2021 with several fact-based arguments.

On March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump would remain on the ballot—but Common Cause remains committed to upholding every voter’s rights and ensuring our votes count.

We joined this effort because no one is above the law, period. Our laws are meant to apply to everyone equally—no matter how famous you are, how much money you make, or what kind of job you have. That includes Donald Trump.

To defy the vote of the people, to ignore over 60 court findings affirming the results of the election, to repeatedly stoke armed and angry followers to “fight like hell,” and to repeatedly call on them to “fight” to overturn the election results—these are acts of insurrection that are anti-democratic and unconstitutional.

This case was about more than just Donald Trump: it’s about the freedom to vote. And the fact is, the right to vote is at risk for all when candidates refuse to accept the outcome and worse, resort to violence.

Background

In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court issued three key findings after a week-long trial:

• Donald Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States when he incited the January 6th attack to overturn the election he lost.
• The 14th Amendment, which bars officials who break their oath by fomenting insurrection​ from holding office, applies to former Presidents as it would to any other public officials.
• Therefore, he must be removed from the Colorado ballot – in the primary and the general.

That landmark ruling immediately provoked a response from Trump, who appealed it to the U.S. Supreme Court. SCOTUS ruled on March 4 to allow Trump to remain on the ballot.

This suit, Anderson v. Griswold, was filed in September on behalf of six Colorado voters by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonpartisan government watchdog organization with whom Common Cause partners closely, and Martha Tierney, Common Cause’s National Governing Board Chair & member of the Colorado Common Cause State Advisory Board. Former President Trump filed several motions to dismiss the suit, all of which were denied. 

On November 17, Denver District Court found unequivocally that “[Donald] Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 through incitement, and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump’s speech.” This is a historic ruling; a presidential candidate has never been found to have engaged in insurrection in the nation’s history. The judge stopped short of removing Trump from the Colorado ballot, finding that the authors of the 14th Amendment did not intend for the “disqualification clause” to apply to presidents. 

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on December 20 that Trump is disqualified from the Colorado ballot. Trump appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on March 4, 2024, SCOTUS ruled that Trump is allowed to remain on the ballot.