As it turns out, it was hardly a complication at all. The effort wasby a federal judge. That's because Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who's named in the suit along with Trump, would have also needed to want to move the case to federal court. But she didn't. That flaw in Trump’s removal attempt led Chief U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer toSo, it's an embarrassing and unnecessary early loss in the litigation from the Trump team.
To be sure, that loss doesn’t foreshadow how the state court will answer the question of whether the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause keeps Trump off the ballot. Section 3 of the amendment bars anyone from office who took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States but then has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.