In Supreme Court case "Anderson v Trump" respondent Anderson et al. claims that based on “clear and convincing evidence” Colorado trial court in case "Anderson v Griswold" has already found that Trump was the “factual cause” of the insurrection on January 6, 2021

Claim

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Claim

Broader claims

In Supreme Court case "Anderson v Trump" respondent Anderson et al. claims that Colorado Supreme court's holding in case "Anderson v. Griswold" that Donald Trump did "engage in insurrection" should not be questioned, but only evaluated if it qualifies for Section 3 of 14th Amendment of US Constitution

Opposing arguments

In Supreme Court case "Anderson v Trump" Donald Trump claims that nothing that President Trump did “engaged” in “insurrection.”

In Supreme Court case "Anderson v Trump" Donald Trump claims that the events of January 6, 2021, were not “insurrection” as that term is used in US Constitution Section 3

Quotes that support the claim

Trump claims that the historical meaning of “insurrection” was limited to “taking up of arms and waging war upon the United States,” but he cites not one source to support this claim. Pet. 27. As this Court has held, “[i]nsurrection against a government may or may not culminate in an organized rebellion, but a civil war always begins by insurrection against the lawful authority of the Government.” The Prize Cases, 67 U.S. (2 Black) 635, 666 (1862). “Insurrection” is thus necessarily less than “civil war” or full-scale “rebellion.” Instead, an “insurrection” refers to a “rising of any body of people within the United States, to attain or effect by force or violence any object of a great public nature” or “to resist, or to prevent by force or violence, the execution of any statute of the United States.”

The trial court had the benefit of hearing testimony from fifteen witnesses alongside hours of video evidence and dozens of other exhibits. Based on the totality of the evidence and its weighing of witness credibility, the trial court found by “clear and convincing evidence” that Trump was the “factual cause” of the insurrection on January 6, 2021, having intentionally incited the mob to violence in a desperate ploy to cling to power.

Dictionary definitions from before the Civil War likewise defined “insurrection” as “[a] rising against civil or political authority; the open and active opposition of a number of persons to the execution of law in a city or state.” Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language 613 (1860). In the case of Section 3, the insurrection must specifically be “against” “the Constitution,” meaning that the violent uprising is intended to prevent the execution of the Constitution. But whatever the outer bounds of insurrection” are, any plausible definition grounded in historical understanding would encompass “a concerted and public use of force” by “a group of people to hinder or prevent the U.S. government from taking the actions necessary to accomplish a peaceful transfer of power in this country.” Pet. App. 166a. That was exactly what happened on January 6"