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Colorado Supreme Court Thread

Link to the decision

I don't know to what extent there are established precedents for when a topic is worthy of a mega-thread, but this decision seems like a big deal to me with a lot to discuss, so I'm putting this thread here as a place for discussion. If nobody agrees then I guess they just won't comment.

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I'm not sure I fully understand the potential consequences for this decision - like, what are the odds that this decision will lead to some extremely bad outside side effects (like eg. armed protests, insurrections, civil war)?

I'm sketching this out, feel free to iron man, something like there are significant write-in ballots, they don't get counted, and as a consequence, the US sees organized armed revolt?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like trying to prevent a populist candidate from running via technicalities is not the most effective option?

I think major violent unrest is pretty unlikely. My expectation is that the Supreme Court will make a definitive ruling one way or the other and Trump will either be on the ballot everywhere or nowhere (and if nowhere, then the GOP will successfully organize to replace him with DeSantis or Haley). No matter what happens some people will be pissed off, but they will bitch and moan and get over it without drawing any significant amount of blood. I could see irate Trump supporters throwing the election to Biden via write-in campaign that splits the GOP vote though.

If violent protest were to occur, I would expect it to be in response to Trump being imprisoned rather than because of the 14th Amendment issue.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like trying to prevent a populist candidate from running via technicalities is not the most effective option?

"No trying to overthrow the government" is not a technicality.

Funny, I have the diametrically opposite interpretation of potential consequences.

Throwing someone in jail because they committed a crime - that sounds like punishing an individual for their actions (which, while unpopular, I would predict would be more acceptable to Trump supporter). So I would not expect any kind of violent unrest - just some moaning etc....

While, if a candidate is prevented from showing up on a ballot despite popular support? I predict that would be interpreted more like attempting to penalize a large swathe of the electorate for their political leanings and sensibilities (as opposed to penalizing an individual). And I would expect that interpretation to galvanize folk, whether or not they'd vote for the individual, and lead to protests and potential violence