Colorado judge rejects first Trump challenge to 14th Amendment lawsuit

Driving the news: Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace said this week that Trump's objections to the lawsuit on the basis of the First Amendment do not hold.

• Smith wrote that it "is to the benefit of the general public that, regardless of political affiliation, only constitutionally qualified candidates are placed on the ballot."

Zoom in: Trump's attorneys argued last month that the First Amendment protects him from being sued under Colorado law.

• "At no time do Petitioners argue that President Trump did anything other than engage in either speaking or refusing to speak for their argument that he engaged in the purported insurrection," attorney Geoffrey Blue wrote in a filing last month.

The big picture: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) filed a lawsuit last month seeking to bar Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, centered on his actions leading to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

• The group Free Speech For People brought a suit in Minnesota a few days later.
• State elections officials have been hesitant to wade in on the largely untested legal theory and instead have kicked many of the challenges to the courts.
• "If we become political actors instead of election administrators, then we risk being a part of, even innocently a part of, the deterioration of democracy in our country," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) previously told Axios.

What to watch: The trial surrounding Trump's eligibility for the ballot in Colorado is currently set to begin on Oct. 30.

• Trump, who has said the lawsuits are part of an "absurd conspiracy theory," still has other outstanding challenges to the Colorado suit.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on the Colorado judge's opinion this week.

Go deeper: What to expect from the lawsuit seeking to block Trump from the Minnesota ballot