Determining whether a Civil War-era Constitutional amendment disqualifies Donald Trump from Colorado’s ballot holds enough public benefit that a lawsuit seeking to bar him as a candidate can continue, a Denver judge ruled this week. A group of Colorado voters, backed by a liberal watchdog group, is arguing the 14th Amendment bars Trump from Colorado’s ballot. The amendment prohibits people from holding office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the country. The lawsuit, filed by Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters, cites Trump’s alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the nation’s Capitol, as meeting that bar. Trump’s lawyers argued in September that the lawsuit was an attempt to infringe on his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. They sought to dismiss the claim under a Colorado law aimed at protecting people from frivolous lawsuits for exercising that right. Without ruling on the merits of the case, Denver District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled Wednesday that “in short, it is in the public’s interest that only qualified and faithful candidates be allowed to seek public office,” and that an exemption to that law applied.“It goes without saying that, in the abstract, ensuring that only constitutionally qualified candidates can seek to hold the highest office in the country, particularly when the disqualification sought is based on allegations of insurrection against the very government over which the candidate seeks to preside, seeks to enforce an important right which confers a significant benefit to the public,” Wallace wrote. A trial on the lawsuit is scheduled for the end of the month, though backers expect it may ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never ruled on the provision.