it through enforcement, professor american history at yale university, and steven levitskiy is a professor of history at harvard university. two days before judge michael luttig got a phone call that may have changed the course of history for this nation. then, a capitol police officer who risked his life on january six is hoping to serve his country to different way, this time as an elected official. plus i will talk to california colorado secretary of state janet griswold on the heels of the decision to see whether trump is eligible to be on the stage primary ballot. another hour of velshi starts right now. good morning, it s saturday december the six. i m ali velshi. it s been three years since that mob attacked the united states capitol as part of donald trump s desperate attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 presidential election. that attack lasted only a few hours, but the long shadow of the violent insurrection continues to loom large over american dem
democratic conduct possible in our democracy. justice robert jackson said once that the constitution is not a suicide pact, it is the disqualification clause in the 14th amendment that proves this axiom true. you know, you when i talk before christmas. you warned of a argument that was bubbling up in political circles, which by the way now the president united states actually used in the appeal to the colorado supreme court decision that he s going to use at the supreme court of the nine states, and that is that this should be settled on a political level, not on the basis of the constitution. now you and other legal experts are of one mind on this, that, i m going to paraphrase, that is a dumb argument. ali, i wouldn t phrase it that way.
thank, you ali. this issue is always destined for the supreme court of united states, and of the court itself understands the momentous importance of the colorado case for the country. this will be one of the most consequential supreme court decisions for both american democracy and for american politics since the founding of the nation. ali, the genius of the constitution is that it belongs to the people of the united states. it belongs to the american people. the constitution is the great charter of our self government, and it majestically guns, we the people of the united states. in order to form a more perfect union do ordain and establish this constitution. this is one of the rarest moments in constitutional history where literally millions upon millions of
explain that decision to us. good morning ali, and always a pleasure to see you. i do think that the colorado supreme court got it right. donald trump incited an insurrection, the u.s. constitution prohibits candidates who engaged in insurrection from being on the ballot, and so he is disqualified. however, the colorado supreme court said that if an appeal was filed by the january 4th, trump would be presumed on the ballot into the u.s. supreme court acted, and that is exactly what happened. and so i did certify trump to the ballot. ballots for overseas and military voters will actually go out this month, and so it is really urgent that the supreme court acts swiftly so that coloradans and frankly all americans know whether someone who engaged in insurrection can run for the highest office in this country again. and i guess i want to ask
in terms of qualification is what it is, in the same way that i cannot run to be the president of the united states because i am a naturalized citizen, it is not a penalty, it is just a rule and in your estimation donald trump does not meet the qualifications to run for president of the united states. as secretary of state, it is my duty to uphold the law in the constitution, and that comes first before any type of political strategy. so to tell you the political strategy that s not even weigh in to decision-making. a lot in the constitution does. and i think it is very evident that donald trump did engage an insurrection. only two courts in this nation have grappled with that question. both determined that he did, and on top of, that we also saw what happened on january six 2021. we saw it with their own eyes, we don t need experts to tell us whether it was in insurrection or not. and on top of, that ali, i just