On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court removed Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 election ballot.
In a 4-3 ruling, the court determined that Trump isn’t an eligible to be on the ballot for president because of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” – a clause added after the Civil War.
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No Ballot for Trump in Colorado – For Now
There had been previous attempts at a 14th Amendment-based strategy to try to defeat Donald Trump in 2024, though all seven previous legal challenges using this strategy had failed.
CNN reports:
The ruling will be placed on hold until January 4, pending Trump’s appeal to the US Supreme Court, which could settle the matter for the nation.
The state Supreme Court decision only applies to Colorado but the historic ruling will roil the 2024 presidential campaign. Colorado election officials have said the matter needs to be settled by January 5, which is the statutory deadline to set the list of candidates for the GOP primary scheduled for March 5.
“President Trump did not merely incite the insurrection,” the majority wrote in its unsigned opinion. “Even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President (Mike) Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes. These actions constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection.”
“We conclude that the foregoing evidence, the great bulk of which was undisputed at trial, established that President Trump engaged in insurrection,” the opinion adds. “President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary.”
CNN added, “In addition, the court rejected Trump’s free speech claims, writing: ‘President Trump’s speech on January 6 was not protected by the First Amendment.”
In his speech, Trump told his supporters, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The 14th Amendment says that any government officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution are prohibited from holding office if they “engaged in insurrection.”
Yet the wording is not concrete and there is no mention of the executive office, which it has been debatable in cases that have attempted to take the same course as Colorado’s court.
Last week a lower court in Michigan considered the same argument and found that Trump could remain on that state’s ballot.
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Trump Campaign: ‘A Completely Flawed Decision Tonight and We Will Swiftly File An Appeal’
Team Trump campaign says it will “swiftly file an appeal” of the Colorado decision.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement:
“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision. We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits.”
Trump is currently under federal and state indictment over his alleged his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election .
The former president claims he did no such thing and has not plead guilty.
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