Anderson v. Griswold, Colo. Sec. of State and Intervenors Republican State Central Cmt., Case No. 2023CV32577, 2023 WL 8006216 (Dist. Ct., City and County of Denver, Colo., Nov. 17, 2023) (Wallace, J.), slip. op. at 95–102 (holding that a president is not an “officer of the United States” for the purposes of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment), rev’d Anderson v. Griswold, Sec. of State and Intervenor-Appellee/Cross-Appellant Donald J. Trump, Case No. 23SA300, 2023 CO 63, 2023 Colo. LEXIS 1177, 2023 WL 8770111, 543 P.3d 283 (Colo. Dec. 19, 2023) (per curiam), rev’d Trump v. Anderson, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 23-719, 2024 WL 899207, 2024 U.S. LEXIS 1190, 144 S. Ct. 662, 601 U.S. ---- (U.S. Mar. 4, 2024) (per curiam), <https://supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinion/23>, <https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-719.html>;
Because the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court, the opinion and order of the state trial court judge remain good, persuasive law. The Colorado state trial court held that the President of the United States is NOT an “officer of the United States.” The trial court’s decision has not been overturned, overruled, or vacated. Although the trial court’s decision was reversed (by the Colorado Supreme Court), that reversal was itself reversed (by the U.S. Supreme Court). So the first-in-time reversal is a nullity.
That’s
the law of the case.
Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘The Law of the Case: Trump v. Anderson,’ New Reform Club (Mar. 5, 2024, 2:37 AM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-law-of-case-trump-v-anderson.html>;
Sure, but so what? Doesn't "law of the case" just apply to any further proceedings in the same, subject litigation? For example, in granting a motion for partial summary judgment, a judge could rule that, as a matter of law, a certain person was the agent and employee of the defendant. If so, then that ruling would apply throughout the case, on other matters, such as whether the judge should permit the defendant to try to prove at trial that he (defendant) didn't actually know what the person was doing and therefore shouldn't be responsible for the person's actions. The judge's original ruling may have been incorrect, and it could be turned around on appeal; but for now, it's the law of the case.
ReplyDeleteHere, the Colorado case is over (or will be shortly). So there's no way for the trial court's ruling on whether POTUS is an officer for section 3 purposes to be treated as the law of THAT case.