Thursday on FNC’s “The Story,” network contributor Jonathan Turley questioned the merits of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the 2024 primary election ballot.
According to Turley, the 14th Amendment didn’t apply because January 6 was a riot, not an insurrection.
“It’s nonsense,” he said. “I mean, first of all, there’s really interesting analogies to go to Bush v. Gore, you know, a little over 20 years ago, they had another 4-3 decision by another state Supreme Court. And what the court did is they were uncomfortable with the ambiguous standards being used by Florida. This is even more so. When I read the 14th Amendment, I see the words insurrection or rebellion. This was neither. This was a riot. Most people in the public can see it that way. But it’s also not clear that this applies to the office of the presidency. They go through and they enumerate offices that notably does not include the presidency. So there’s a number of elements here that could result in this being overturned, as I expect it will be.”
“In order to get to this spot, these four justices had to adopt the most sweeping interpretations at every point in order to make this actually work,” he continued. “But I think it’s going to collapse in from the Supreme Court. And many of us are hoping that they do speak with one voice, that they speak with a voice for all of us, with the exception of what the people that you’ve just played, that you hear, particularly on other networks. Very few citizens are celebrating this, it’s the same core that has always celebrated every effort to bag Trump. And I’m not saying that they’re wrong in their criticism of Trump. What I’m saying is they’re wrong in their means. If you want to defend democracy, practice democracy, and that’s what’s the disconnect that’s happening here.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.