The Colorado Supreme Court’s historic ruling deems Donald Trump ineligible for the 2024 presidential race due to the 14th Amendment’s insurrection ban. The 4-3 decision accuses Trump of engaging in the Capitol insurrection, upholding the trial judge’s findings. While confirming that the insurrectionist ban applies to the presidency, the ruling opens the path for Trump’s appeal to the US Supreme Court. The appeal could potentially preserve his spot on Colorado’s primary ballot if resolved swiftly, impacting the GOP primary season starting with the Iowa caucuses in less than a month.
via CNN:
The Colorado Supreme Court made history Tuesday with an unprecedented, freeze-in-your-tracks ruling that former President Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run in 2024 because the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office covers his conduct on January 6, 2021.
The 4-3 decision removes Trump from the Republican primary ballot in Colorado, which is scheduled for Super Tuesday in early March. However, the Colorado justices paused their ruling so Trump can appeal to the US Supreme Court, which could even preserve his spot on the state’s primary ballot if the appeal isn’t settled quickly.
In many ways, the landmark ruling holds Trump accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 election and provides a political punishment for his anti-democratic behavior. The ruling is also a massive vindication for the liberal groups and constitutional scholars of all stripes who championed such 14th Amendment lawsuits despite their long odds.
Here are the key takeaways from the decision and what comes next:
Trump engaged in insurrection, court says: The top Colorado court upheld the trial judge’s conclusions that the January 6 assault on the US Capitol was an insurrection and that Trump “engaged in” that insurrection.
These are key legal hurdles that the challengers needed to clear before Trump could be removed from any ballot, largely because the text of the 14th Amendment doesn’t actually define an “insurrection” or spell out what it means to “engage in” insurrection.
They impeached Trump twice.
Indicted him 4 times.
Charged him 91 times.
And now they are trying to remove him from the ballot.
In spite of all that, Trump’s poll numbers are currently the highest they’ve ever been in the history of his political career.
There is nothing the…
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 20, 2023