Natelson Weighs in on Colorado Denying Trump on the Ballot

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Former UM Law Professor Rob Natelson, now with the Independence Institute in Denver, Colorado, spoke to KGVO News on Wednesday about the Colorado Supreme Court removing Donald Trump from the Republican Presidential primary.

Natelson gave a slight nod to the court; however, he said there was a problem citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Rob Natelson with the Independence Institute in Colorado Weighs in on Trump

“The majority, the case was decided only four to three, didn't get everything wrong,” began Natelson. “However, they got the most important issues in the case wrong. For one thing they failed to address sufficiently, the basis on which the trial judge had made her decision. And that is that the 14th Amendment provision which is qualifies people for insurrection, does not according to the trial judge actually apply to the President of the United States.”

Natelson said the Colorado court denied the former President the basic right of due process.

Natelson said the former President was Denied the Right of Due Process

“An even more serious problem, however, is that if you're going to disqualify someone from political office, all political office for life, you have to give that person adequate due process,” he said. “In this particular instance, like some other procedures against Donald Trump, he really wasn't given adequate due process. It was an accelerated procedure that did not allow for the proper preparation of witnesses and evidence.”

One argument that has come forward is that the more opposition the former President encounters, the more his supporters rally to his defense, something Natelson said he encountered in his own political life.

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Natelson Points out the More Opposition Trump Receives, the More Support he Gets

“This cuts close to home for me because I took a position when I was in politics in Montana,” he said. “I took a position that was very anti-establishment, and the entire establishment came down on me; much in the way the entire federal establishment has come down on Trump. And every time they did that, it helped me. It made by supporters more determined to win, and we've seen that same phenomenon with Donald Trump.”

Reports are that now the State of California is also moving to remove Trump from their own Republican primary.

The former President has appealed the Colorado decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.