Colorado’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to hold public office, kicking him off the state’s 2024 ballot.
The ruling, which focuses on section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is the first of its kind in the United States.
“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the Colorado ruling said. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
The court wrote in its opinion that Secretary of State Jena Griswold “may not list President Trump’s name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, nor may she count any write-in votes cast for him.”
The court also said if the case is taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court before January 4, the pause will remain in effect and Colorado will be required to include Trump’s name on the primary ballot.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, blasted the decision in a statement.
“Unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Cheung said in a statement.
Republican presidential candidates quickly rallied around Trump as former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came to the former president’s defense.
“I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions,” Haley told reporters. “We need voters to make these decisions.”
“The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds,” DeSantis wrote on X.
“I do not believe Donald Trump should be prevented from being president of the United States by any court,” Christie said during a town hall event. “I think he should be prevented from being president of the United States by the voters of this country.”
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Tuesday said the Republican Party will help Trump in his legal fight.
