On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot.
The court ruled 4-3 that Trump was not eligible because he had engaged in an insurrection over the US Capitol riot nearly three years ago.
The decision from a court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate, the Associated Press reports.
“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.
Colorado’s highest court overturned a ruling from a district court judge who found that Trump incited an insurrection for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol but said he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the provision was intended to cover the presidency.
The court stayed its decision until January 4th or until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case. Colorado officials say the issue must be settled by January 5th, the deadline for the state to print its presidential primary ballots.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” wrote the court’s majority. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. 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.”
Trump to appeal Colorado’s decision at the Supreme Court
Trump’s attorneys had promised to appeal any disqualification immediately to the nation’s highest court, which has the final say on constitutional matters.
Trump’s legal spokeswoman Alina Habba said in a statement Tuesday night: “This ruling, issued by the Colorado Supreme Court, attacks the very heart of this nation’s democracy. It will not stand, and we trust that the Supreme Court will reverse this unconstitutional order.”
Trump didn’t mention the decision during a rally Tuesday evening in Waterloo, Iowa, but his campaign sent out a fundraising email citing what it called a “tyrannical ruling.”
Trump lost Colorado by thirteen percentage points in 2020 and doesn’t need the state to win next year’s presidential election. However, as the Associated Press reports, the danger for the former President is that more courts and election officials will follow Colorado’s lead and exclude Trump from must-win states.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed nationally to disqualify Trump under Section 3, which was designed to keep former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War.
It bars anyone who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it from office and has been used only a handful of times since the decade after the Civil War.
As CNN reports, Trump has mastered the art of converting legal setbacks into polling bounces,however.
He’s already in a stronger position today to beat President Joe Biden than he was one year ago before he was criminally indicted in four jurisdictions, and he and his GOP allies kicked into high gear Tuesday night, playing the victim card and railing against the ruling.
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