The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump should be disqualified from serving as president and removed from the state’s ballot in the upcoming presidential primaries due to his role in inciting violence against the US government in 2021.
“participated in an uprising or rebellion.”
The Colorado court’s ruling applies only to the state’s March 5 Republican primary. However, the court’s ruling will likely affect Trump’s standing in the Nov. 5 general election.
The Colorado court said the decision was stayed until Jan. 4, 2024, to give Trump the opportunity to appeal.
The Trump campaign has already called the court’s decision “wrong” and “undemocratic” and said it will be appealed.
As a reminder, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed the lawsuit on behalf of six Colorado voters in September.
The lawsuit invokes Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 to prevent former Confederate officials and military personnel from returning to power after the Civil War from 1861-65.
Legal context
The 14th Amendment is one of three amendments to the Constitution that were passed after the Civil War to expand the civil and legal rights of formerly enslaved African Americans.
Section 3 of the Amendment states that no one who has taken an “oath… to support the Constitution of the United States” and then has “engaged in rebellion or insurrection” against the Constitution or given “aid or support to the enemies thereof” can be a senator, representative , an elector of the President, or to hold any office, civil or military, unless approved by a majority vote of Congress.
This section of the amendment has been largely unenforced for more than 150 years, and it only came into legal discourse after the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Following the Capitol incident, liberal groups attempted to use Section 3 to challenge the eligibility of several congressional candidates who opposed the 2020 election results.
Some legal scholars note that Section 3 is not clear about whether the president is subject to disqualification under this provision and argue that the amendment does not apply to him, while other experts argue that the language “an official of the United States” , used in Section 3, also applies to the president of the country.
There is also controversy over whether the January 6 incident can be considered an act of sedition.
A criminal conviction for sedition is not required to trigger the provision, according to Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.
“Simply participating in these (insurrectionary) actions is enough,” Schiff told MSNBC. “This disqualifies you from holding office again.” And this fits Donald Trump’s case perfectly.”
Opponents oppose equating the Jan. 6 incident with an insurrection. They note that Section 3 was added as a reaction to the then real rebellion that led to the Civil War between the North and South.
“But it’s remarkable that Trump hasn’t even been charged with incitement, let alone insurrection or insurrection,” Jonathan Turley, a conservative law professor at George Washington University, said on Fox News.
Legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy are just beginning to make their way through the courts and could eventually reach the Supreme Court.
