The Supreme Court of the US State of Colorado disqualified, this Tuesday, former President of the United States Donald Trump from the ballot for the presidential election in the State in 2024 because of his role in the attack on the US Capitol in January 6, 2021 by his supporters.
The decision makes Trump the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to be ruled ineligible for the White House based on a rarely used provision of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits holding office by officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion.” .
The court concluded that the U.S. Constitution prohibits the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination from appearing on the election ballot due to his role in instigating violence against the U.S. government.
The ruling applies only to the state’s March 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion would also likely affect Trump’s status for the Nov. 5 general election. Nonpartisan election analysts consider Colorado a reliably Democratic state, meaning US President Joe Biden is likely to win the state regardless of Trump’s fate.
The case was brought by a group of Colorado voters, aided by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who argued that Trump should be disqualified for inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol in a failed attempt to obstruct the transfer of presidential power to Biden after the 2020 election.
Trump’s campaign team called the court’s decision “flawed” and “undemocratic” and said it would be appealed.
“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will quickly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a simultaneous request to stay this deeply undemocratic decision,” said a Trump campaign spokesperson.
On the U.S. Supreme Court, the 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees.
The Trump campaign has condemned the challenges to the 14th Amendment as an attempt to deny millions of voters their preferred choice for president.
The decision is a victory for anti-Trump groups and voters who have mounted several similar legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War.
The decision reverses the ruling of a lower court judge who found that Trump engaged in insurrection by inciting his supporters to violence, but as president, Trump was not an “authority of the United States” who could be disqualified under the amendment. .
A lawyer for Trump argued that the attack on the Capitol was not serious enough to qualify as an insurrection and that Trump’s comments to his supporters in Washington that day were protected by his right to free speech. The lawyer argued that courts do not have the authority to order Trump removed from the polls.
The Colorado court said the ruling is on hold until Jan. 4, 2024, to allow for appeals.
By Kanishka Singh, Costas Pitas and Dan Whitcomb in Washington