The Colorado Supreme Court is removing former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot, saying he is ineligible to be president.
In a stunning and unprecedented decision, the Colorado Supreme Court removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot, ruling that he isn’t an eligible presidential candidate because of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.”
“Even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President (Mike) Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes.
“President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary.”
Ratified after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment says officials who take an oath to support the Constitution are banned from future office if they “engaged in insurrection.” But the wording is vague, it doesn’t explicitly mention the presidency, and has only been applied twice since 1919.
We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Chief Justice Brian Boatright, one of the three dissenters on the seven-member court, wrote that he believes Colorado election law “was not enacted to decide whether a candidate engaged in insurrection,” and said he would have dismissed the challenge to Trump’s eligibility.
LINKS
AP: Colorado Supreme Court bans Trump from the state’s ballot under Constitution’s insurrection clause | @negativenull@startrek.website
Washington Post: Donald Trump is barred from Colorado’s 2024 primary ballot, the state Supreme Court rules | @silence7@slrpnk.net
CNBC: Colorado Supreme Court disqualifies Trump from 2024 ballot, pauses ruling to allow appeal | @return2ozma
NBC News: Colorado Supreme Court kicks Donald Trump off the state's 2024 ballot for violating the U.S. Constitution. | 18-24-61-B-17-17-4
CNN: Colorado Supreme Court removes Trump from 2024 ballot | A Phlaming Phoenix
CNN:Colorado Supreme Court removes Trump from 2024 ballot based on 14th Amendment’s ‘insurrectionist ban’ | @Boddhisatva
New York Times: Trump Is Disqualified From the 2024 Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules | @silence7@slrpnk.net
This alone is a nothingburger. But it might set the precedent for other states to make the same ruling.
Then again the SC will likely overrule this, so most likely nothing matters.
Not a lawyer here, but I'm not sure the scouts even could do anything here. The states and their own election mechanics, to the best of my knowledge, are independent of the federal government to the extent that a given state could put whoever they want on the ballot.
If that's the case though, I have to wonder what stops them from simply putting their chosen winner as the only candidate on the general election ballot, other than the inevitable storm of lawsuits.
They made the call using the 14th amendment. Now it's a question of interpreting the Constitution, squarely in the purview of SCOTUS.
I'm betting SCOTUS simply punts this one. They've already shown no interest in Trump's BS election claims. They owe him nothing, and I'd guess they, like conservative leadership, despise the fucker.
Remember, their jobs are safe. Unlike the jobs of the aforementioned cowardly leadership.
The question of the 14th would certainly be in the realm of the scouts, but what I'd wonder is can they actually DO anything. Even if they said 'nah, that Jan 6th thing totally doesn't DQ him' I don't see how they force the state to reverse course since each state runs their own elections and sends their own electors to the national convention.
I’m going to laugh when the state rights crowd figures that out.