The Republican Party in Colorado has petitioned the United States Supreme Court to reinstate former President Donald Trump as a candidate on the state's 2024 ballot.
This move comes in response to a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that declared Trump ineligible to run for the presidency in the state, citing the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.
The state GOP's attorneys argued in their petition, "By excluding President Trump from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the First Amendment right of political parties to select the candidates of their choice and a usurpation of the rights of the people to choose their elected officials."
The party further criticized the state Supreme Court's decision, stating, "Rejecting a long history of precedent, a state Supreme Court has now concluded that individual litigants, state courts, and secretaries of state in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia have authority to enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment."
The Colorado Republicans expressed concern that this ruling could set a precedent for other states, potentially leading to Trump's removal from ballots elsewhere. They warned, "With the number of challenges to President Trumps candidacy now pending in other states, ranging from lawsuits to administrative proceedings, there is a real risk the Colorado Supreme Court majoritys flawed and unprecedented analysis will be borrowed, and the resulting grave legal error repeated."
In their ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court essentially accused, tried, and convicted Trump of insurrection without a formal court case. They determined that Trump "incited and encouraged" violence on January 6, 2021, despite none of the four ongoing criminal trials against him charging him with insurrection. This decision overturned a lower court's ruling that allowed Trump to remain on the ballot.
The lower court had found that Trump participated in the insurrection at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, but ruled that presidents are not subject to the 14th Amendment. The Colorado Supreme Court, however, disagreed with this interpretation in a 4-3 ruling on appeal.
The Colorado GOP's appeal to the US Supreme Court precedes an expected appeal from the Trump campaign. The appeal will consider whether presidents fall under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, whether states can independently determine section 3 violations without congressional action, and whether denying a political party the right to select their candidates infringes upon First Amendment rights.
Trump also faces potential removal from ballots in Texas, Nevada, and Wisconsin. However, he was not removed from the Michigan ballot despite a challenge.
Justice Elizabeth Welch ruled in that case, stating, "Significantly, Colorados election laws differ from Michigans laws in a material way that is directly relevant to why the appellants in this case are not entitled to the relief they seek concerning the presidential primary election in Michigan."
Login