Editor, The Beacon:

Judge Sarah B. Wallace’s decision in the suit brought by CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) to remove Donald J. Trump’s name from the Colorado ballot is perplexing.

To her credit, she established, beyond contention, that the disgraced, once-upon-a-time president not only participated in insurrection, but actively and vigorously fomented it.

That said, her failure to find sufficient cause to disqualify, in a clause whose wording provides clear and ample opportunity to do so, is troubling to the extent that it might suggest the need for a refresher course in high-school English.

The wording in Section 3 is both clear and beautiful in its simplicity. Why the word President does not precede “Senator or Representative in Congress” in the text of the 14th Amendment, Section 3, is unclear and arguably lost to time, but the words “or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States” are not. Is the presidency of the United States not a civil office? Does the “Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces” not effectively hold a military position? Quite so.

The Founders, fallible as they were, were learned men. They left nothing to chance. Surely, were they with us today, they would not condemn the Jan. 6th insurrectionists to prison and give the architect of their treason a free pass.

Judge Wallace’s reasoning was flawed.

Jack Wrightington

Edgewater