Denver, CO
Editorial: Supreme Court justices keep Trump on the Colorado ballot, ignoring judicial restraint and originalism
We are not surprised that three of the justices on the Supreme Court who favor an evolving view of the Constitution would refuse to enforce a little-known provision of the 14th Amendment that has never before been employed during a presidential election.
While we disagree with their conclusion, the justices are right that there is no precedent and that allowing a state to banish a bad actor from the ballot just before the 2024 primary is an extreme action that could violate competing portions of the Constitution requiring that federal officers are responsive to all the people of America through a coordinated election process.
We are dismayed, however, that Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and to a lesser extent Amy Coney Barrett, would so quickly and with so little explanation abandon their literal adherence to the plain words of the Constitution — a legal world-view known as “originalism.”
Not only did the originalists use historical context to decide what the 14th Amendment says, but they also undermined the entire amendment with a sweeping and far-reaching ruling that Coney Barrett criticized.
These justices stripped pregnant women of their rights without even acknowledging that women in states with abortion bans would die of sepsis while waiting for a fetal heart to stop. And yet, the justices spent a few sad paragraphs at the end of their ruling in Trump v. Anderson lamenting the harm that would occur were former President Donald Trump to be kicked off the ballot in Colorado.
“Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos — arriving at any time or different times, up to and perhaps beyond the Inauguration,” write all of the conservative justices with the exception of Barrett, who wrote a short separate opinion. These men cry tears for an orderly election but couldn’t spare a moment for pregnant women suffering life-threatening health conditions.
Gorsuch, Alito and Thomas long ago swore it should not matter to good justices what bad outcomes might result from enforcing the Constitution as written, as long as they did not waver from the plain language. Roberts and Kavanaugh have never claimed to be true originalists but do lean in that direction.
Just how clear is the language of the Constitution when it comes to elected officials who have taken an oath of office and then supported a violent uprising against that very sacred document?
Amendment 14 Section 3 could not be clearer: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
Given Trump’s violent rhetoric, his aggressive orchestration of alternative electors following his clear loss in 2020 to President Joe Biden, and his subsequent efforts to prevent Congress from certifying the results as required in the Constitution, it is clear that Trump cannot “hold any office … under the United States.”
Rather than enforce this inconvenient truth in the Constitution, the justices have ruled that states cannot be the ones enforcing the 14th Amendment. They go so far as to rule that no one can enforce the 14th Amendment without legislation or other acts of Congress.
“This can hardly come as a surprise,” the majority quips as they shoot down the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump’s actions following the November 2020 election have rendered him unqualified for federal office.
Indeed, it is a surprise that states cannot enforce the 14th Amendment.
Who do these justices think brought the case Brown v. Board of Education to their bench in 1954? It was not federal prosecutors, using federal legislation to enforce desegregatoin of schools in the south. It was citizens, children to be specific, seeking “equal protection” under the 14th Amendment. One of the cases went to state courts, others through federal courts, but never did the Supreme Court deny a case because the state’s courts had no authority to enforce the 14th Amendment. In fact, in some states and some small towns, the wait would have been long for an end to segregation in schools if the Supreme Court had required federal action on the issue.
The court ruled in Brown: “Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”
In a similar fashion, earnest Coloradans who were convinced that Trump’s insurrection attempt disqualified him from office sought redress in Colorado courts to enforce the 14th Amendment. We wrote in November that these Coloradans obviously had standing to bring this case and that the courts were the appropriate place to litigate whether Trump’s actions met the definition of “insurrection.”
The concurring opinion by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson made this exact argument while they dissented to the court’s reasoning: “Similarly, nothing else in the rest of the Fourteenth Amendment supports the majority’s view. Section 5 gives Congress the ‘power to enforce [the Amendment] by appropriate legislation.’ Remedial legislation of any kind, however, is not required. All the Reconstruction Amendments (including the due process and equal protection guarantees and prohibition of slavery) ‘are self-executing,’ meaning that they do not depend on legislation.”
Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson are arguing for judicial restraint. This isn’t the first time, nor the last time we fear, that the rogue conservative majority on the court will rule as broadly as they possibly can in pursuit of their desired outcome.
That four justices ruled narrowly against employing a novel legal argument on a state-by-state basis to keep an insurrectionist from running for president is being considered a win by Trump’s supporters.
That five justices ruled that the 14th Amendment cannot be enforced by states without federal legislation is a loss for America, a loss for liberty and yet another sign that this court is spiraling out of control with no leadership, no discipline and a clear uptick in partisanship.
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Houston Rockets (16-6, third in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (18-6, second in the Western Conference)
Denver; Monday, 9:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Denver hosts Houston looking to end its four-game home slide.
The Nuggets are 13-5 in conference games. Denver averages 125.5 points while outscoring opponents by 9.6 points per game.
The Rockets are 9-5 in Western Conference play. Houston is fifth in the NBA scoring 120.6 points per game while shooting 48.6%.
The Nuggets’ 13.5 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 12.7 per game the Rockets give up. The Rockets average 120.6 points per game, 4.7 more than the 115.9 the Nuggets give up.
The teams meet for the second time this season. In the last meeting on Nov. 22 the Nuggets won 112-109 led by 34 points from Nikola Jokic, while Reed Sheppard scored 27 points for the Rockets.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jokic is averaging 29.5 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.9 assists for the Nuggets. Hunter Tyson is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Alperen Sengun is averaging 23 points, 9.4 rebounds, seven assists and 1.5 steals for the Rockets. Amen Thompson is averaging 20.0 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 7-3, averaging 126.7 points, 41.4 rebounds, 30.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 53.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.8 points per game.
Rockets: 7-3, averaging 115.7 points, 47.2 rebounds, 24.8 assists, 9.3 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 107.0 points.
INJURIES: Nuggets: Christian Braun: out (ankle), Aaron Gordon: out (hamstring), Julian Strawther: day to day (back).
Rockets: Fred VanVleet: out for season (acl), Dorian Finney-Smith: out (ankle), Tari Eason: out (oblique).
——
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Copyright © 2025 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.
Police have issued a Medina Alert to try to locate a white Toyota Corolla that was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a pedestrian in Denver on Saturday.
The crash happened just before 9 a.m. near South Federal Boulevard and West Kentucky Avenue in west Denver.
The specific car being sought is a white 2010 Corolla with Colorado license plate EDM-U42, according to Denver police. Investigators say the driver of the Corolla struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk at the intersection, causing serious bodily injury. The driver then allegedly fled northbound on South Federal Boulevard.
Police say there will be slight to moderate damage to the front bumper.
Denver, CO
Man found guilty of murder 9 years after girlfriend’s body was found in Denver-bound Amtrak train
DENVER — A Denver man was convicted Friday of murdering his girlfriend, nearly 10 years after her body was discovered inside a Denver-bound Amtrak train.
Angelo Valentino Mantych, 43, was convicted by a jury of his peers on one count of first-degree murder after deliberation for killing 28-year-old Marina Placensia while on-board an Amtrak overnight train that was headed to Denver from Wisconsin the morning of Sept. 1, 2016.
It took jurors about five hours of deliberation to reach the guilty verdict on Friday. Each was individually polled on their decision — and all of them confirmed their verdict.
Mantych, who was in court Friday for the reading of the verdict, hanged his head as it was read. He was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9.
Meanwhile, Placensia’s family was overcome with emotion when they heard the guilty verdict. Outside of the courtroom, Placensia’s father told Denver7 the day felt like Christmas, New Years Eve, and his birthday rolled into one day.
Denver7 also spoke with a juror, who said the group was united in their decision and worked well together.
First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, but the sentencing hearing will be an opportunity for those who loved Placensia to tell the judge how this loss has impacted their lives.
The two sides delivered their closing arguments on Friday morning.
Prosecutors said Placensia took the train that day with her four children, three of whom she shared with Mantych, to escape years of abuse and domestic violence. They argued that a “loss of control” served as motive for the killing. Prosecutors aimed to discredit the alternative explanations offered for Placensia’s death, pointing to what they said was clear evidence of a smothering.
Man found guilty of murder 9 years after girlfriend’s body was found in Denver-bound Amtrak train
The defense’s closing arguments centered around an apparent lack of commotion on the train on the night of Placensia’s death, saying it would be “almost impossible” for her to have been smothered for several minutes without their children noticing. Defense attorneys also called into question the integrity of an investigation that saw significant delays.
The case against Mantych is one Denver7 has been following since at least October 2023, when Mantych was charged with murder in connection with the crime.
An arrest affidavit obtained by Denver7 in the case showed the woman had several bruises on her body “consistent with an assault or struggle,” but investigators were not able to identify an obvious cause of death at the time. An autopsy later found blunt impacts to her head, trunk and extremities.
The investigation took several years to piece together, something the defense brought into question during closing arguments Friday.
“I think this case is such a great example of law enforcement just remaining committed to a case that they knew something happened, but we just had challenges with filing it, and so it’s a real testament to endurance and commitment by the entire team who’s worked on it since 2016,” said Assistant District Attorney Lara Mullin outside of the courtroom.
“It sends a very strong message to offenders who think that they can continue to perpetrate these types of crimes and violence on victims of domestic violence, that there will be justice sought and that we will not relent in our pursuit of that justice for victims of domestic violence,” said Amelia Sapp, the Chief Trial Deputy of Domestic Violence and Child Victims.
During the investigative process, one person told detectives that Mantych beat Placensia daily, and another said she had to go to a hospital multiple times for her injuries from the assaults, according to arresting documents. At least one of the reports obtained from the Racine Police Department and dated March 13, 2015, showed Mantych had punched Placensia’s ear several times, causing her to lose hearing in that ear. He was arrested and charged with assault after that incident.
On May 18, 2023, a doctor confirmed he believed Placensia’s cause of death was the result of asphyxia from suffocation and said her injuries were consistent with suffocation cases in both living and deceased patients, the affidavit stated. He said he believed her injuries were the result of an assault, including blunt force trauma and suffocation.
Mantych pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge on June 21, 2024, according to court documents.
His trial began at the beginning of the month.
He did not testify in the trial and his defense team declined to comment on the verdict.
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available through Violence Free Colorado or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
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