Setting up an appeal before the highest court in the land, the Colorado Supreme Court issues a landmark ruling to remove former President Donald Trump’s name from state ballots based on its reading of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Lawyers for Trump seek to block Northwestern University marketing professor Ashlee Humphreys from testifying in the second defamation lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll. Days after winning a $148 million civil judgment against former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss file another lawsuit against him to keep him from repeating his false claims against them. Here is the latest legal news involving the man who hopes to win reelection to the White House in 2024.
Jan. 6 election interference
Colorado Supreme Court blocks Trump from appearing on ballot
Key players: Colorado Supreme Court, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
- In a 4-3 ruling Tuesday, the court voted to remove Trump from presidential primary ballots, the Associated Press reported.
- The decision was based on its reading of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which bars those who have “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
- “A majority of the court holds that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” the ruling states.
- But the court also stayed its ruling until Jan. 4, giving Trump’s lawyers time to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme court in the case brought by CREW on behalf of Colorado voters.
- A lower court judge had ruled that while Trump had “engaged in an insurrection” stemming from his actions to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden, it was not clear that Section 3 applied to the presidency.
- The Colorado Supreme court ruled that it did.
- Other state courts are also hearing 14th Amendment challenges to Trump’s inclusion on ballots.
Why it matters: The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling will ultimately settle the question of whether Trump is entitled to seek the presidency again following his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building.
Jean Carroll defamation
Trump looks to block key witness from testifying
Key players: Former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, Judge Lewis Kaplan, Trump lawyer Michael Madaio, Northwestern University marketing professor Ashlee Humphreys, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss
- In a court filing last week, Trump’s lawyers asked Kaplan to “exclude” Humphreys’s testimony from the second defamation case brought by Carroll, the Daily Beast reported.
- In May, during the first civil case brought by Carroll, Humphreys testified about the financial damage Trump’s alleged sexual assault and defamation had done to the writer’s reputation. A jury concluded that Trump had indeed sexually assaulted Carroll and awarded her $5 million.
- Humphreys was also a witness in the defamation trial of Giuliani brought by Georgia election workers Freeman and Moss, testifying last week regarding damages. The jury in that case ordered Giuliani to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million.
- In their filing last week, Trump’s lawyers faulted the methodology used by Humphreys to calculate financial damages.
- “The damages estimations in her initial report are egregiously inflated (to the tune of millions of dollars), utilize methods which ascribe harm in an unreliable and incorrect manner; and do not accurately reflect the actual harm to plaintiff’s reputation,” Madaio wrote in the filing.
- Following the first judgment, Trump again attacked Carroll’s credibility, leading her to file another lawsuit. The second defamation trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 15.
Why it matters: In two high-profile cases involving Trump, juries have been persuaded that Humphreys’s estimates on damages are sound, and largely adhered to them in reaching the $5 million judgment against the former president.
Georgia election interference
Giuliani sued again by Georgia poll workers following $148 million judgment
Key players: Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss
- Days after a Washington jury ordered Giuliani to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million in damages for defaming them with false claims about their role in the 2020 presidential election, the pair filed a new lawsuit Monday against the former New York mayor, Bloomberg reported, to keep him from repeating his false assertions.
- “Defendant Giuliani’s statements, coupled with his refusal to agree to refrain from continuing to make such statements, make clear that he intends to persist in his campaign of targeted defamation and harassment,” the new lawsuit states. “It must stop.”
- On Monday, Giuliani was interviewed on Newsmax, and was asked if he still believed his allegations that the two women manipulated votes that contributed to Trump’s loss in Georgia.
- “If I showed you the evidence right now, and I think you’ve played it on your air, people would see that what I said was absolutely true,” Giuliani responded.
- Giuliani declined to testify during the case, despite earlier claims that he would present evidence that proved his claims. He has vowed to appeal last week’s verdict.