The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Donald Trump is disqualified from the 2024 ballot and holding public office.
DOMINICK REUTER/AFP via Getty Images
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump is disqualified from the 2024 ballot.The court also ruled he cannot hold office, citing the 14th Amendment.Trump’s campaign released a statement saying he would appeal the ruling at the US Supreme Court.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that former President Donald Trump is disqualified from running for president and holding office.
Trump’s campaign quickly announced that it would appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court, setting up another high-stakes legal fight that could loom over the 2024 presidential election.
The Colorado court largely sided with a lower district court that ruled that Trump incited protestors before the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and therefore violated the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court stayed its decision until January, allowing the Trump campaign time for an appeal.
In a statement, Trump’s campaign blasted Colorado’s highest court and vowed that they have “full confidence” that the US Supreme Court will overrule the state judges.
“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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
If justices hear the case, they could issue their most consequential elections-related decision since the Supreme Court effectively ended the 2000 presidential election in its controversial Bush v. Gore decision. Other states are considering similar challenges to Trump’s standing, meaning that if Colorado’s ruling is allowed to stand the former president’s potential status on general election ballots could be thrown into jeopardy.
The nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, initially filed the petition in September, arguing that Trump should be barred from running for president over his actions during the January 6 insurrection due to the 14th Amendment.
The 14th Amendment has a section specifying that anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or has “given aid or comfort” to those carrying out an insurrection is ineligible to run for office.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the state’s nine electoral votes with a margin of victory of 4.9%. Ted Cruz won a majority of the delegates in the state’s 2016 Republican presidential caucuses. President Joe Biden won 55% of the vote in 2020 with a margin of 13.50%.
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