WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn Colorado’s state court decision to remove him from the state primary ballot.
The Colorado Supreme Court based its Dec. 19 ruling on language in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” from running for federal office.
“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.”
Trump’s lawyers said in the filing that if the ruling stands, it would “mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate”.
The Trump campaign a statement its own, calling the Colorado ruling “unAmerican, unconstitutional act of election interference.”
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.”
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 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.”
“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.”
