2023-12-20 08:42:00
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency because of his actions during the assault on the Capitol, raising a still incalculable shock wave in the tumultuous American presidential campaign. All eyes are now on the Supreme Court of the United States, before which the former Republican president will appeal, one of his spokespersons immediately announced.
By a majority of four out of seven judges, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the trial decision concluding that Donald Trump had “engaged in rebellion on January 6, 2021” during the assault on the Capitol, but on the other hand considered that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, invoked to claim his ineligibility, did indeed apply to a president.
“In unknown land”
That day, hundreds of white-hot supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, the sanctuary of American democracy, to try to prevent the certification of the victory of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. The historic indictment of the ex-president on August 1 at the federal level then on August 14 by the state of Georgia (South-East) for his allegedly illicit attempts to obtain the reversal of the results of the 2020 election opened a legal debate on his possible ineligibility, leading to appeals in several states.
But out of around fifteen procedures underway in various states, including two rejected in Minnesota and Michigan, the Colorado courts are the first to declare Donald Trump ineligible. In their decision ordering the electoral authorities of this western state to remove the name of Donald Trump from the ballots for the Republican primaries in 2024, the judges say they are “aware of moving into unknown territory”.
They are also suspending this injunction until January 4, the deadline for the validation of primary ballots, in the event of an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States before then. “If an appeal is filed with the Supreme Court before this stay expires, it will remain in effect and the election official must still include President Trump’s name on the 2024 primary ballot until she receives any injunction or mandate of the Supreme Court,” according to their ruling. Therefore, pending a possible decision from the Supreme Court, commentators point out that, in all likelihood, the name of Donald Trump will appear on the ballots in Colorado as in the other states affected by “Super Tuesday”. , March 5, 2024.
“Undemocratic”
The Republican camp nevertheless denounced an “undemocratic” decision. “The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will quickly go to the United States Supreme Court and seek a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung. . The Republican President of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, considered that the decision was “irresponsible” and nothing less than a “thinly veiled partisan attack”.
As for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s rival for the Republican primary, he called on the Supreme Court to overturn the decision. “The left invokes democracy to justify its use of power, even if that means abusing judicial power to exclude a candidate from elections based on spurious legal arguments,” he wrote on X.
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