Trump takes Colorado ballot disqualification to US Supreme Court
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[January 04, 2024]
By Andrew Chung and John Kruzel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked
the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after Colorado's top court
disqualified him from the state's Republican primary ballot for engaging
in insurrection leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S.
Capitol.
Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination,
is contesting the Dec. 19 Colorado Supreme Court decision that
disqualified him under a constitutional provision barring anyone who
"engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding public office.
The state high court had already put its decision on hold until Jan. 4,
stating that Trump would remain on the ballot if he appealed.
Trump's filing places a politically explosive case before the nation's
highest judicial body, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three of
his own appointees. The justices' action will shape a wider effort to
disqualify Trump from other state ballots as the 2024 election draws
closer.
In the filing, Trump's lawyers asked the justices to "summarily reverse"
the Colorado Supreme Court because the question of presidential
eligibility is reserved for Congress.
The state court's decision marks "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 lawyers
said, adding that the ruling "is not and cannot be correct."
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The Jan. 6 attack was an attempt by Trump's supporters to overturn his
2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, which Trump
falsely claims was the result of fraud.
The Colorado court's historic ruling marked the first time in history
that Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment - the
so-called disqualification clause - had been used to deem a presidential
candidate ineligible for the White House.
Trump has also appealed to a Maine state court a decision by that
state's top election official barring him from the primary ballot under
the same constitutional provision at issue in the Colorado case.
DISQUALIFICATION CLAUSE
The Colorado Supreme Court ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Republican
and unaffiliated voters, and backed by watchdog group Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, seeking to bar Trump from the
nominating primary and future elections under the disqualification
clause.
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![](../images/010424PIX/news_r36.jpg)
A general view of the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver, Colorado,
U.S., December 20, 2023, the day after the court ruled that former
President Donald Trump is disqualified from serving as U.S.
president and cannot appear on the primary ballot in Colorado
because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol
by his supporters. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
Section 3 bars from holding office any "officer of the United
States" who took an oath "to support the Constitution of the United
States" and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the
same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
The amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the American Civil
War of 1861-1865 in which 11 southern states seceded from the union.
The 4-3 Colorado Supreme Court ruling reversed a lower court judge's
conclusion that Trump engaged in insurrection by inciting his
supporters to violence, but as president, he was not an "officer of
the United States" who could be disqualified under the Fourteenth
Amendment.
The Colorado court concluded that Trump's role in instigating
violence at the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the results of
the 2020 election constituted engaging in insurrection, and that the
presidency is covered by the insurrection provision.
"President Trump asks us to hold that Section Three disqualifies
every oath-breaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and
that it bars oath-breakers from virtually every office, both state
and federal, except the highest one in the land. Both results are
inconsistent with the plain language and history of Section Three,"
the majority wrote.
Acknowledging the magnitude of the case, the majority said, "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."
Trump's lawyers argued that his speech to supporters on the day of
the riot was protected by his right to free speech, adding that the
constitutional amendment does not apply to U.S. presidents and that
Congress would need to vote to disqualify a candidate.
Courts have rejected several lawsuits seeking to keep Trump off the
primary ballot in other states. Minnesota's top court rebuffed an
effort to disqualify Trump from the Republican primary in that state
but did not rule on his overall eligibility to serve as president.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York and John Kruzel and Andrew
Goudsward in WashingtonEditing by Scott Malone, Lisa Shumaker and
Matthew Lewis)
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