Meet Four Democrat-Appointed Judges Who Disqualified Trump from 2024 Ballot

Four Democrat-appointed judges to the Colorado Supreme Court unilaterally prohibited former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot, preventing voters from deciding who should become the next president.

The Court cited the partisan January 6 Committee’s controversial finding that Trump engaged in insurrection, ignoring the fact the Senate acquitted Trump of the House charges.

🚨Colorado Supreme Court rules Trump DISQUALIFIED from 2024 ballot! Story here 👇https://t.co/zSl0dnHB3y

— Bradley Jaye (@bradleyajaye) December 20, 2023

The Court’s unilateral determination that Trump engaged in insurrection comes despite Trump having never been convicted of that – or any other – crime, or even been charged in court with the crime of insurrection. He was acquitted by the U.S. Senate of charges of engaging in insurrection and continues to deny wrongdoing.

The four Democrat judges who said Trump engaged in insurrection are:

1. Judge Monica M. Márquez — Appointed by Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. (D):

• Márquez is the first gay person to serve on the Court. As of 2021, Márquez is the longest-serving openly gay state supreme court justice serving in the United States.
• Márquez is a member of the self-described Bench Dream Team, which is a group of judges dedicated to diversity and inclusion in law.
• Márquez previously practiced general commercial litigation and employment law in Denver.

2. Judge Melissa Hart — Appointed by former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D):

• Hart is from Denver and is married with two children.
• Hart was the Articles Editor for the Harvard Law Review and Book Review Editor for the Harvard Women’s Law Journal.
• After a clerkship with Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court, she practiced law in Washington, DC, as a trial attorney at the Department of Justice.
• Hart is “fair and impartial, makes decisions without regard to possible criticism and treats parties equally, regardless of race, sex or economic status,” a 2020 Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation found.

3. Judge William W. Hood, III — Appointed by former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D):

• Hood graduated from Yale University and obtained a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
• Before being appointed to the Court, Hood was a litigation law partner in Denver and served as a prosecutor for ten years.
• A 2016 Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation found “that Justice Hood’s performance is strong in the areas of being courteous towards attorneys, treating parties equally regardless of race, sex or economic status and allowing parties to present their arguments.”

4. Judge Richard L. Gabriel — Appointed by John Hickenlooper (D):

• Gabriel was born in Brooklyn, NY. He and his wife have two adult children.
• “Gabriel’s performance is strong in the areas of being prepared for oral argument, being courteous and treating parties equally,” a 2018 judicial performance review said of him.
• A female law clerk accused Gabriel of harassment in 2021, the Denver Post reported.

Meanwhile, Trump’s ballot eligibility in Maine will be considered during a hearing on Friday.

Via MSNBC:

Interestingly, a difference in Maine from some of the other cases around the country is that the hearing wasn’t presided over by a judge but rather by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who has said she will decide the matter this week. Other secretaries of state have deferred to the courts, such as in the Colorado case that’s awaiting a decision from the state’s top court.