2023-12-20 02:43:16
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled this Friday that Republican Donald Trump cannot participate in the state’s electoral primaries in 2024 due to being “disqualified” to run the presidency of the United States.
“The majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from the presidential office under the third section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” the court says.
“Because he is disqualified, it would be an erroneous act under the Colorado state election code for him to appear as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established citizenship and civil rights in the late 19th century, prohibits Americans from running for office if they participated in an insurrection after pledging to defend Magna Carta.
Ratified after the Civil War (1861-65), the amendment was intended to prevent supporters of the slaveholding Confederacy from being elected to Congress or holding federal office.
The court’s decision stems from a lawsuit made by a group of voters, with the support of the non-governmental group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), who argue that Trump is ineligible to compete for the Presidency due to the attack on the Capitol on September 6 January 2021 perpetrated by his supporters.
“Trump incited a violent mob to attack our Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power under our Constitution,” CREW attorney Eric Olson said in his opening argument.
“January 6 was an insurrection against the Constitution,” Olson said. “Trump participated in that insurrection.”
Judge Sarah Wallace of Denver ruled that Trump participated in an insurrection but could compete because the third section of the amendment does not apply to those competing for the Presidency.
But the voters, with the support of CREW, appealed, which led to the Supreme Court’s response.
Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, issued a statement shortly after the announcement calling the court’s decision “completely erroneous” and “deeply undemocratic.”
“We will quickly file an appeal to the US Supreme Court and a simultaneous request to stay this decision,” Cheung said.
For its part, CREW celebrated the ruling on its social networks.
“We just won before the Colorado Supreme Court in our challenge to keep Donald Trump out of the polls for being disqualified under the 14th Amendment for participating in an insurrection,” wrote CREW President Noah Bookbinder.
Similar cases have been discussed in other states of the country. The Minnesota Supreme Court, as well as a Michigan court, recused themselves from removing Trump from the primary.
Trump, 77, will be tried in Washington in March accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the November 2020 election, won by Democrat Joe Biden.
He faces similar charges in a separate case in the southern state of Georgia.
Trump was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives after the attack on the Capitol, accused of inciting an insurrection, but was acquitted by the Senate.
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