DENVER — Anderson versus Griswold. The case that led to the Colorado Supreme Court opinion that former President Donald Trump is an insurrectionist and unable to hold office is named Anderson v. Griswold.
The challenge was to keep Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold from putting former President Trump on Colorado's primary ballot, hence 'Griswold.'
The 'Anderson' is former Republican state lawmaker Norma Anderson.
“Donald Trump does not deserve to be president,” Anderson said.
She keeps a pocket Constitution on a table near her TV chair at home, not that she needs it to understand the law of the land.
“What does it mean to me? It means Democracy. It tells me what our forefathers fought for when they settled this country,” Anderson said.
Anderson is one of four Republicans and two unaffiliated voters who sued Griswold to keep Trump off the ballot. CREW – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington – is the liberal group out of Washington D.C. that helped the voters with the lawsuit that used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump from holding future office.
“I was concerned because of the courage of the courts, I’m sorry,” Anderson said.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a Denver District Court ruling that Trump engaged in insurrection, and then reversed the lower court ruling that said the 14th Amendment does not apply to the office of president.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment can disqualify a candidate from holding future office if they engage in insurrection after taking an oath to support the Constitution.
In a 4-3 opinion, the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from the Colorado primary ballot based on the 14th Amendment. But it has paused the enforcement of that decision until Jan. 4, pending an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
“I swung back and forth. One day, I would expect it and the next day, I’d say, ‘uh, they won’t do it,’” Anderson said.
Colorado’s decision is already having a ripple effect on both sides of the country.
In Maine, there are three challenges to the Democratic secretary of state, seeking to keep Trump off the primary ballot in Maine.
Maine’s secretary of state will delay her decision from Friday until next week based on Colorado’s Supreme Court opinion.
In California, the Democratic lieutenant governor sent a letter to the Democratic secretary of state seeking to keep Trump off the ballot.
“Based on the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling in Anderson v. Griswold, I urge you to explore every legal option to remove former President Donald Trump from California’s 2024 presidential primary ballot,” the Lt. Gov. wrote.
“California, I guarantee will take him off. Texas never will,” Anderson said. “You only need about six or eight states.”
Anderson’s name is now a court case that will be cited repeatedly.
“Hey, that’s sort of nice. I’ll live forever,” Anderson said.
The Trump campaign has said it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, as will the Colorado Republican Party. Led by Dave Williams, a Trump supporter, the Colorado GOP considers Anderson a RINO or “Republican in Name Only.”
“I’m on their RINO hall of shame. And I don’t really care because they are not the Republican Party that I was born in, raised in, volunteered, campaigned and represented,” Anderson said.
She put her name on the lawsuit to prevent Trump from being president again.
“To be very truthful, and there’s a lot of people going to hate me about this one, he’s too close to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and too much like Putin. It’s a simple as that,” Anderson said.
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