DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Republican Party said it has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling from the state’s supreme court that removed former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s 2024 ballot.
In their 4-3 ruling, handed down on Dec. 19, Colorado Supreme Court justices claimed that Trump is ineligible for the ballot under 14th Amendment concerns due to his alleged role in facilitating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The Colorado GOP is appealing that decision on three points:
- Whether the role of the president is subject to disqualification by section three of the 14th Amendment, the so-called insurrection clause.
- Whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is “self-executing,” in that it allows states to remove candidates from the ballot in the absence of any Congressional action.
- Whether denying a political party the ability to choose a candidate of its choice in a presidential primary and general election violates that party’s First Amendment Right of Association.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to take the case, either after the Colorado GOP’s appeal or Trump’s own appeal. If Trump ends up off the ballot in Colorado, it would have minimal effect on his campaign because he doesn’t need the state, which he lost by 13 percentage points in 2020, to win the Electoral College in the presidential election. But it could open the door to courts or election officials striking him from the ballot in other must-win states.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected an attempt to remove Trump from the primary ballot for alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The American Center for Law and Justice, a driving organization behind the appeal, issued a statement on Wednesday, but the article was later removed from its website and then re-posted.
“This is so much more than one primary in one state – this is the greatest election interference case in U.S. history and represents a grave attack on millions of Americans’ fundamental right to vote,” the organization stated. “We represent the Colorado Republican Party and are urging the Supreme Court to swiftly grant and resolve this case as we are just weeks from the first ballots being cast in the 2024 presidential election.”
The organization further pushed for an expedited review of the case by the U.S. Supreme Court. Primary ballots are set to be approved in Colorado on Jan. 4, which is also the date on which the Colorado Supreme Court delayed enactment of its decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
