Trump barred from appearing on Colorado presidential primary ballot, state Supreme Court rules
Donald Trump was barred from appearing on Colorado’s presidential primary ballot next year, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The court determined the 77-year-old former president was ineligible for the White House, citing the US Constitution’s insurrection clause, which led to his removal from the ballot.
It’s the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
“A majority of the court holds that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” the court wrote in its 4-3 decision.
The ruling is stayed until Jan. 4, or until the US Supreme Court makes a decision on the case.
Trump’s campaign is expected to appeal. It said in a statement it has “full confidence” that the US Supreme Court would quickly side with the ex-president and “finally put an end to these un-American lawsuits.”
His camp also called the decision “completely flawed” and not surprising, noting Colorado’s court is made up of Democratic-appointed justices.
But the court’s majority wrote in their decision that they did not reach the conclusions lightly.
“We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us,” the majority stated. “We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
The determination was reached after an earlier ruling by a lower court judge rejected the lawsuit.
That judge found Trump incited an insurrection after refusing to accept the 2020 presidential election results, but he could not be disqualified because it was not clear if the provision was meant to cover the commander in chief.
But the court majority said it didn’t make sense that Section 3 stops “every oathbreaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and that it bars oath-breakers from virtually every office, both state and federal, except the highest one in the land.”
One of the three dissenting judges on the state Supreme Court wrote Tuesday that questions surrounding the case were too complex to be determined at the state level, and the government can’t bar someone from holding office without due process.
“Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past — dare I say, engaged in insurrection — there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office,” Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright wrote.
Colorado’s lawsuit is one of dozens that have been filed across the country to keep Trump from appearing on the ballot again.
Section 3, which has been cited in the legal actions, was meant to prohibit ex-Confederates from getting back into government after the Civil War.
The lefty group that brought the Colorado case on behalf of six GOP and unaffiliated voters, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, applauded the ruling.
“Our Constitution clearly states that those who violate their oath by attacking our democracy are barred from serving in government,” said the group’s president Noah Bookbinder.
Other Republicans running against Trump soon condemned the ruling.
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy declared on X that he would withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is allowed back on. He urged other White House hopefuls to do the same.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also took to X to say Trump should not be stopped from being president again by the legal system.
“He should be prevented from being President of the United States by the voters of this country,” he said.
Former Trump Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, 51, echoed Christie after an event in Iowa Tuesday night.
“I will tell you that I don’t think Donald Trump needs to be president. I think I need to be president. I think that’s good for the country,” the former South Carolina governor said, according to the Des Moines Register.
“But I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also panned Tuesday’s outcome, and urged the US Supreme Court to reverse the decision.
“The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds,” he tweeted.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) slammed the four justices who ruled against Trump.
“This is unAmerican and Democrats are so afraid that President Trump will win on Nov 5th 2024 that they are illegally attempting to take him off the ballot,” the New York Trump ally said in a statement.
“Like the rest of the unprecedented, constant, and illegal election interference against President Trump, this will backfire and further strengthen President Trump’s winning campaign to Save America.”
Trump kept to his boilerplate campaign remarks and attacks against President Biden without mentioning the Colorado ballot ruling during a rally in Waterloo, Iowa, Tuesday night that got underway about an hour after the court’s decision.
Trump lost the state’s general election by 13.5 points in 2020. Its Super Tuesday primary is on March 5.
With Post wires
