Colorado GOP Appeals Donald Trump’s Primary Disqualification to Supreme Court

(CTN News) – Following the disqualification of former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s Republican primary ballot by Colorado’s top court, the Colorado Republican Party sought intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, according to an attorney for the party.

The appeal follows the disqualification of Donald Trump by the Colorado Supreme Court on December 19th due to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his followers.

A section in the United States Constitution forbids holding public office by anybody who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” was the basis for the court’s decision to exclude Trump.

Conservative attorney Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law & Justice represents the Republican Party in Colorado.

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Most observers believe that Trump, now leading the Republican presidential race in 2024, will submit his appeal. The state supreme court delayed its ruling until January 4 so that Trump may still be eligible to vote in the event of an appeal.

With its historic decision, the Colorado court became the first in U.S. history to declare a presidential candidate unfit for the Oval Office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, also known as the disqualification clause.

A lower court judge had concluded that Donald Trump incited his supporters to violence, but the 4-3 Colorado Supreme Court decision overturned that decision, finding that Trump, as president, was not an “officer of the United States” disqualified under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Colorado court said that Trump’s actions in calling for violence at the Capitol while lawmakers gathered to confirm the 2020 election results amounted to insurrection and that the insurrection section applies to the presidency.

The assault was an effort by Trump’s followers to reverse his defeat in the 2020 presidential election to Democratic candidate Joe Biden, which Trump asserts was due to fraud.

Attempts by other plaintiffs to get Trump removed from other states’ primary ballots have been unsuccessful in court. The highest court in Minnesota denied a challenge to Trump’s eligibility to run for president, but the decision did not affect his participation in the Republican primary in Minnesota.