The Colorado Supreme Court bans Donald Trump from the state ballot
The former president Donald Trump was today declared ineligible for the white house by the Colorado Supreme Court, under the U.S. Constitution insurrection clause. The Supreme Court removed him from the state presidential primary ballot and said that they found him constitutionally ineligible to hold future office.
This decision to disqualify a presidential candidate is the first of its kind where section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used by the court. The supreme court in its decision said “A majority of the court holds that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment”. The Denver District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace while issuing the detailed order said that Trump was engaged in an insurrection by inciting his supporters to attack the US capitol on January 6 and that the Colorado courts have an authority to adjudicate presidential qualifications.
A district court judge previously had stated even though he found that Trump incited an insurrection due to his role in the Jan 2, 2021 attack on the capitol, but still, he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the the provision was intended to cover the presidency. Colorado’s highest court overturned this ruling after the lower court had stayed its decision until Jan 4, or until the US Supreme Court rules on the case.
The majority of the Supreme Court wrote ”We do not reach these conclusions lightly. 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.”
The majority noted that it had “little difficulty” and said that there was sufficient evidence to deem the deadly mob attack of Jan. 6 an insurrection and that the former president’s own actions to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, were directly linked to the insurrection.
Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright and Justices Carlos A. Samour Jr. and Maria E. Berkenkotter were the ones who dissented and had their amount of issues with the procedures of the eligibility challenge and did not dispute the conclusion about whether Trump’s actions were in-fact amounting to such conduct of insurrection.
In one of the arguments this month, Eric Olson, an attorney for the petitioners said ”If we say that this conduct by this person is not enough under the Constitution, what we do is empower Trump and others to use more political violence to attack our democracy”.
The eligibility of Trump for the candidature was challenged after the cases filed against him with a deadline of Jan 5, 2024, for the Secretary of State Jena Griswold to certify the candidates for the next year. The argument gained ground when four Republicans and two unaffiliated voters argued about Trump not being eligible for the presidency again under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, ratified in the wake of the Civil War.
The attorneys for Trump had promised earlier to appeal against any possible disqualification immediately to the Supreme Court, which of course, has the final word about the supreme matters of the constitution.
