Colorado judges claimed the former president was responsible for an insurrection
Attorney Eric Olson argues before the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver © AP / David Zalubowski
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former US President Donald Trump can’t be on the primary ballot in that state. The Republican front-runner has vowed to appeal.
The case was brought by Democrat activists arguing that Trump was disqualified from running for the White House again because he had engaged in “insurrection” against the US government, citing a section of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution which was passed following the Civil War in 1865. Democrats have used the term “insurrection” to describe the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, although no one – including Trump – has been charged with that particular crime.
Four Colorado Supreme Court judges, all Democrats, agreed that Trump was not eligible to be on the primary ballots in the state, but stayed their ruling until January 4, 2024, pending appeals.
Reacting to the ruling, the Trump campaign called the decision “completely flawed” and a product of “a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden,” according to spokesman Steven Cheung.
“Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls,” said Cheung. “They have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November.”
The Trump campaign will appeal to the US Supreme Court and has “full confidence” that it will “quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these un-American lawsuits,” Cheung added.
The January 6 protest followed Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election – which saw the widespread use of mail-in ballots and resulted in Democrat Joe Biden getting the most votes ever in US history – was “rigged” and marred by irregularities.
Ever since then, Democrats have sought to disqualify the 45th president from running for office again. To that effect, multiple activist groups have filed legal challenges in several US states citing the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment. It says that a person cannot run for elected office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US Constitution after taking an oath to support it, and was specifically created to prevent the defeated Confederates from returning to elected office after the 1861-65 conflict over secession and slavery.
Trump currently leads in the polls among Republicans vying for the party’s nomination, with as much as a 50-point lead over all other contenders.
