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The
nonpartisan group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington, filed the lawsuit in a Colorado state court on
behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated voters including
former state, federal, and local officials, it said in a
statement.
The untested legal strategy, which relies on a reading of the
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, faces long odds,
according to legal experts. It would require legal challenges in
all U.S. states and territories to convince officials that the
former president is ineligible to serve after his supporters
attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn
his election defeat.
Trump, the front-runner in the race for the Republican
nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024,
continues to falsely claim his defeat was the result of fraud.
"While it is unprecedented to bring this type of case against a
former president, January 6th was an unprecedented attack that
is exactly the kind of event the framers of the 14th Amendment
wanted to build protections in case of," Noah Bookbinder,
president of the ethics group known as CREW, said in a
statement.
The lawsuit cites Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars
any person from holding federal or state office who took an
"oath ... to support the Constitution of the United States" and
then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same,"
according to the statement.
The watchdog alleges that Trump violated that oath by
"recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob that
attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in a futile attempt to
remain in office."
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges brought by Special
Counsel Jack Smith in federal court in Washington that he
conspired to defraud the United States by preventing Congress
from certifying Biden's 2020 election victory and to deprive
voters of their right to a fair election.
While the lawsuit was filed in Colorado, election analysts rate
that state as solidly Democratic and one that Trump would be
unlikely to win in 2024 even if he were on the ballot.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Jack Queen in New
York; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)
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