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
It will go to the SCOTUS first and if they overturn the decision then it's back to square one. Even if they don't overturn the decision, it also still depends on enough swing states also barring Trump from running, since Colorado is a blue state that he was never going to win anyway.
What we really want are states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to bar him from running. Then he really would be fucked.
I believe if the Supreme Court chooses to hear this case, then which ever way they rule would be for all states, not just Colorado.
How so? Couldn't they ignore the insurrection bit and rule that colorado runs its own elections?
Yeah. They could. Honestly though they shouldn't even be taking the case. The Constitution is pretty clear that the states are in charge of elections.
The Voting Rights Act is ironically what Trump relies on here. It's possible the court has weakened the law by so much that each state gets to decide.
I'm not seeing anything in the VRA about candidates. Just about districting and voting. Can you point me to that?
It's not candidates specifically but to what degree the federal government can dictate a state government's elections. States have full jurisdiction over running elections, and the VRA lets the federal government keep them in check. I guess it's more the idea of law than the letter, but the idea remains very important in our legal framework.
I believe it's an all or nothing type ruling, the 14th either applies or it doesn't. As the Supreme Court only interprets the constitution/law they cannot change the fact he was found to be part of an insurrection against the United States.
This is correct. Their ruling will be legally binding for all states since federal law supercedes state law as a basic constitutional matter.
Colorado can set the precedence that other states can do it. It will also prevent some republicans from voting at all in Colorado which will turn local offices in that state bluer. Also, Trump has come right out and said he sees himself as a dictator and Clarence Thomas sees himself as a rich man. Those 2 things are mutually exclusive because a dictator doesn't need a supreme court so they might actually make the right decision on that.
We just had a school board election here in CO hinge on a handful of votes. The better-by-far candidate won, but barely. This is the most significant likely impact of these rulings here and hopefully elsewhere. I do wish people could stop over-emphasizing the presidency at the expense of the very crucial state and local offices.
I love your optimism.
I'm not optimistic at all. I'm simply stating the legal reality. If you read any optimism into my statement, that's on you.