Colorado Supreme Court bans Trump from the state’s ballot under Constitution’s insurrection clause

Donald Trump, the former president, speaks at a Durham, New Hampshire, campaign event on Saturday, December 16, 2023. The nation's highest court will likely hear arguments to determine whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can continue in the race after ruling on Tuesday, Dec. 19, that Trump is ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause and removed from the state's presidential primary ballot. (Reba Saldanha, AP Photo/Files)

  

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Plaintiffs were successful. District Judge Sarah B. Wallace concluded after a week-long hearing in November that Trump had, in fact, "engaged in insurrection" by instigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6. However, her decision to retain him on the ballot was mostly procedural.

Wallace was persuaded by Trump's attorneys that since Section 3 refers to "officers of the United States" who swear to "support" the Constitution, the president—who isn't listed as a "officer of the United States" anywhere in the document—must not be covered by the language because his oath is to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution.

Additionally, the clause states that all offices "under the United States government" are included, including senators, representatives, and electors for the president and vice president.

The court postponed making a ruling until January 4th, or until the US Supreme Court rendered a ruling on the matter.

The majority of the court stated, "We do not reach these conclusions lightly." We acknowledge the importance and gravity of the questions that are currently in front of us. We also recognise that it is our grave responsibility to uphold the law, without from fear or favour, and unaffected by the opinions of the general public regarding the choices that the law requires us to make.

Trump's legal team had pledged to promptly challenge any disqualification to the highest court in the country, which has the last say on constitutional issues. His campaign declared that it was preparing a rejoinder to the decision.

Colorado was a 13-point loss for Trump in 2020, and he won't need the state to win the presidency the following year. The risk for the former president, however, is that additional election officials and courts will decide to follow Colorado's example and bar Trump from states where he needs to win.

By January 5, which is the deadline for the state to print its presidential primary ballots, Colorado authorities believe the matter needs to be resolved.

In an attempt to disqualify Trump under Section 3, which was created to prevent former Confederates from entering politics after the Civil War, dozens of cases have been filed across the country. It has only seldom been utilised, but it prohibits from holding public office anyone who took an oath to "support" the Constitution and subsequently "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against it.

The plaintiffs have won in their first case, which is in Colorado. District Judge Sarah B. Wallace concluded after a week-long hearing in November that Trump had, in fact, "engaged in insurrection" by instigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6. However, her decision to retain him on the ballot was mostly procedural.

Wallace was persuaded by Trump's attorneys that since Section 3 refers to "officers of the United States" who swear to "support" the Constitution, the president—who isn't listed as a "officer of the United States" anywhere in the document—must not be covered by the language because his oath is to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution.

Additionally, the clause states that the offices included are senators, representatives, presidential electors, and the president is not mentioned, only the vice president and everyone else "under the United States."

The highest court in the state disagreed, siding with the lawyers for six Republican and unaffiliated voters in Colorado who contended that it was absurd to think that the amendment's framers, who were afraid of former Confederates regaining power, would forbid them from holding low-level positions but not the nation's highest one.

In opening December court arguments, attorney Jason Murray stated, "You'd be saying a rebel who took up arms against the government couldn't be a county sheriff, but could be the president."