Colorado judge denies effort to keep Trump off the ballot, despite agreeing that he engaged in insurrection

A Colorado judge found that former President Donald Trump had engaged in insurrection but that he should not be restricted from appearing on the primary election ballot.

Progressives sued in Colorado and other states, arguing that Trump should be kept from running for president over his participation in the Jan. 6 rioting at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the official results of the 2020 election.

On Friday, Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace ruled against the petition to keep Trump off the ballot.

"The Court finds that Petitioners have established that Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 through incitement, and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump’s speech," wrote Wallace in the 102-page decision.

She said that Trump did not meet the standard of being "an officer of the United States" in order to be disqualified.

“The Court holds there is scant direct evidence regarding whether the Presidency is one of the positions subject to disqualification,” she added.

The lawsuit was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which argued that the insurrection clause of the Constitution prohibited Trump from running for president again.

Noah Bookbinder, the president of CREW, said they would appeal the ruling.

"The court's decision affirms what our clients alleged in this lawsuit: that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection based on his role in January 6th," he said in a statement.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung issued a statement praising the ruling.

"We applaud today's ruling in Colorado, which is another nail in the coffin of the un-American ballot challenges," Cheung said. "These cases represent the most cynical and blatant political attempts to interfere with the upcoming presidential election."

If the ruling is appealed, it could be heard by the state's supreme court and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court.

A similar lawsuit was rejected in Michigan, though the petitioners in that case said they would also appeal the ruling.

Here's more about the ruling from Colorado:

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!