Donald Trump's Colorado Ruling 'Worst Decision' He Could Get: Attorney

Despite keeping him on the presidential ballot, a Colorado judge's ruling could still prove "devastating" for former President Donald Trump, a former solicitor general has said.

Speaking with MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Sunday afternoon, former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said that a Colorado court finding that Trump engaged in insurrection against the government after the 2020 presidential election was "the very worst decision Trump could get."

"There's a factual finding that the judge said, which is that Trump committed insurrection," Katyal said of District Judge Sarah B. Wallace's ruling. "On appeals, the factual findings get massive deference by the appeals court. It's almost impossible to overturn a trial judge's factual finding."

"If I were to put the headline on Friday, as an appeals lawyer, it would be this is the very worst decision Donald Trump could get from the trial court," Katyal told Psaki. "Because it's going to go on appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court, perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court, and there, Trump is going to face extreme headwinds."

"Here, this judge factually made devastating findings against Trump," he said.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorney via email for comment on Monday.

If Trump were removed from the Colorado ballot, it would end his chances of winning a key state in the 2024 presidential election. Biden beat Trump in Colorado by 55 percent to 41 percent in 2020, taking all nine Electoral College votes. Trump's popularity appears to be growing in Colorado.

In an Emerson College poll conducted in early October, Biden led Trump by 42 percent to 38 percent, a margin of four points. That margin has tightened since an Emerson poll in September gave Biden a 10-point lead at 46 percent to Trump's 36 percent.

On Saturday, Trump warmly welcomed Wallace's ruling while speaking at a campaign rally in Iowa.

Wallace found Trump engaged in insurrection during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol but allowed him to remain on Colorado's primary ballot because it is unclear whether a Civil War-era constitutional amendment barring insurrectionists from public office applies to the presidency.

Trump praised Wallace's decision while speaking to a crowd at a high school in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Saturday. Democrats, their allies and the media, he claimed, are "having an absolute meltdown because last night, our campaign won a gigantic court victory in Colorado."

He criticized the lawsuit as "an outrageous attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters by getting us thrown off the ballot."

And he called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the watchdog group that filed the case on behalf of a group of Republican and independent Colorado voters, a "bunch of losers."

Donald Trump speaks on November 18, 2023, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He told the crowd that a judge's decision to keep him on the Colorado ballot was a great victory. John Vondruska/Getty Images

CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement that the group 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," Bookbinder said. "We are proud to have brought this historic case and know we are right on the facts and right on the law."

The lawsuit contended that Trump's actions on the day of the Capitol attack violated the 14th Amendment, which prevents anyone from holding office who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said on Friday that the ruling was "another nail in the coffin of the un-American ballot challenges."

Cheung added: "The American voter has a constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choosing, with President Donald J. Trump leading by massive numbers. This right was correctly preserved in Colorado today and we urge the swift disposal of any and all remaining Democrat ballot challenges."