After 95 pages documenting the mountain of compelling evidence that then president Trump, loser of the “most secure election in US history” (Trump appointed maker of that statement immediately fired), intended to incite, and did incite, an insurrection [1], the violent riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 that disrupted the certification of Biden’s electoral college victory, the new judge, (appointed on January 10, 2023}, made her ruling about this particular insurrectionist’s right to be on the Colorado Republican presidential primary ballot.

She concluded that the oath mentioned in the Fourteenth Amendment, to “support” the Constitution, is very different from the president’s oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution and that, therefore, along with the President not being an enumerated officer of the United States listed in that clause, there was no problem with this particular insurrectionist being on the primary ballot in her state. All he is seeking is the highest office in the land, an “office” which was not mentioned specifically as an office in that clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. Here she goes, with the money shot:

313. Here, after considering the arguments on both sides, the Court is persuaded that “officers of the United States” did not include the President of the United States. While the Court agrees that there are persuasive arguments on both sides, the Court holds that the absence of the President from the list of positions to which the Amendment applies combined with the fact that Section Three specifies that the disqualifying oath is one to “support” the Constitution whereas the Presidential oath is
to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution, it appears to the Court that for whatever reason the drafters of Section Three did not intend to include a person who had only taken the Presidential Oath.

Which, of course, makes perfect sense…

[1] “Trump acted with the specific intent to incite political violence and direct it at the Capitol with the purpose of disrupting the electoral certification,” she wrote. “Trump cultivated a culture that embraced political violence through his consistent endorsement of the same.”