President Trump is back on the Colorado 2024 primary ballot after the state’s Republican party petitioned the US Supreme Court to reverse the decision by the state’s high court to remove him.
As Breaking Digest previously reported, Colorado’s high court ruled to disqualify Trump from the 2024 ballot on Tuesday.
All seven justices of the Colorado Supreme Court were appointed by Democrats, Four of whom voted in favor of disqualifying Trump and three dissented.
The legal arguments hinge on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which outlines that public officials who have engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion against” the US could face disqualification from holding public office.
The leftist justices accused Trump of an insurrection despite the fact that Trump hasn’t faced any charges related to insurrection or rebellion against the United States.
The Colorado Republican Party has enlisted the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), headed by former Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, to represent them.
At the heart of their argument is the claim that disqualifying Trump violated the First Amendment Right of Association. Their stance emphasizes that barring the Republican Party from selecting its candidate encroached upon their constitutional rights.
Moreover, the petition raised questions regarding the implementation of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, specifically questioning whether it permits states to independently remove candidates from ballots without Congressional involvement.
Our team has been working diligently through the holidays to gear up for our biggest Supreme Court election case EVER.
— Jay Sekulow (@JaySekulow) December 27, 2023
Voice your support to keep the far Left from interfering in our elections. Sign our petition. https://t.co/66RD5BJkTY
Politico reported:
The Colorado Republican Party asked the Supreme Court to reinstate Donald Trump on the primary ballot — officially dragging the nation’s top court into the fight over whether the former president can be legally barred from office.
The state Republican committee asked the court late Wednesday to overturn the ruling issued by the Colorado Supreme Court earlier this month, when it struck Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot. The court ruled that Trump engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, disqualifying him from the presidency under an interpretation of the 14th Amendment — but paused its ruling until the Supreme Court could weigh in.
The state GOP’s petition argues three points: The office of the presidency is not covered by the 14th Amendment, the insurrection clause is not “self-executing” — meaning Congress alone must enforce it, and states cannot make that determination on their own — and that by kicking Trump off the primary ballot, the state Republican Party’s First Amendment rights of association have been violated.
The Supreme Court has not decided yet whether they will hear what could end up being the highest profile ballot access case of our time.