2023-12-20 10:57:00
The Colorado court’s ruling makes Trump the first presidential contender in United States history to be deemed ineligible to sit in the White House under a rarely used provision of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office. The judges ruled against Trump by a ratio of four to three. Similar efforts to remove Trump from the list of candidates failed in Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire, writes the BBC.
“We do not come to these conclusions lightly. We are aware of the scale and gravity of the issues before us,” the judges stated in their reasoning, stating that they have an obligation to follow the law and not be influenced by public opinion.
The ruling applies only to the state’s March Republican primary, but could affect Trump’s status in Colorado for the November 2024 presidential election. The verdict, on the other hand, does not apply to states outside of Colorado. The Colorado Supreme Court further said it is delaying the effectiveness of its decision until at least January 4, 2024 to allow for an appeal.
The verdict relies on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits anyone from holding “any office, civil or military”; who had previously abjured allegiance to the Constitution and had subsequently committed “insurrection or sedition against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies” of the Constitution. The application of this standard is a relatively unexplored issue and, according to the media, the US Supreme Court will probably intervene in the matter.
According to the authors of the lawsuit Trump’s actions in the days and weeks leading up to January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters disrupted Congressional approval of the results of the presidential election, can be seen as encouraging the rebellion. Trump had previously refused to concede defeat, instead inciting supporters with fabrications of widespread vote fraud. He continued to do so at a rally at the White House immediately before the attack on the Capitol. Several people died and others were injured in the violence at the Capitol, which is the seat of US lawmakers.
“The Colorado Supreme Court tonight issued a completely flawed decision, and we will quickly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request to stay this deeply undemocratic decision.” Trump staff spokesman Steven Cheung said. The US Supreme Court is dominated by conservative justices, some of whom were appointed by Trump during his time in the White House, Reuters noted.
Verdict of the Colorado Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling by a lower court there, which had also found that Trump had “engaged in sedition” by inciting his supporters to violence, but did not disqualify him from the primaries. The lawsuit was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on behalf of Colorado voters.
The Republican Party primaries will determine its candidate for the November 2024 presidential election. Trump, who led the US from 2017 to 2021, wants to seek re-election next fall and is currently the favorite to win the Republican nomination. Colorado alone is seen by US election forecasts as clearly Democratic, which means that current Democratic President Joe Biden is likely to take control of the state during the vote, regardless of Trump’s fate in it.
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