Republican presidential contender John Anthony Castro has warned former President Donald Trump that the “walls are closing in” on him after he was issued a protection order by District Judge Sarah B. Wallace over a lawsuit seeking to exclude him from Colorado’s 2024 presidential election. The order bans parties in the case from making threatening or intimidating statements, and was requested by attorneys for the liberal organization Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics.
Several other lawsuits have been filed across the country ahead of the presidential elections seeking to disqualify Trump from running for office in 2024 under the 14th Amendment clause, which prohibits anyone from running for office who has taken an oath to the Constitution and then ‘engaged in insurrection’ against it. Many of their arguments center on Trump’s participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in which he called the rioters “great patriots.”
Former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who is defending Trump in the case, was against the order, claiming that threats and intimidation are already against the law. Gessler also noted that some of the vehement language in this situation has come from the left. The Colorado suit is the first to be filed by a group with significant legal resources and is expected to reach the United States Supreme Court, which has never decided on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection provision in section three.
Judge Wallace has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 30 to debate whether Trump should be removed from the ballot under Colorado law, which prohibits candidates who do not meet the criteria for higher office from appearing on ballots.
