Trump Asks Supreme Court to Overturn Colorado Ballot Ban

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a Colorado court’s ruling that disqualified him from appearing on the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot for allegedly inciting an insurrection that climaxed with the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol.

The Colorado Supreme Court based its Dec. 19 decision on a provision of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from running for federal office. 

However, the court stayed its ruling until Jan. 4, anticipating an appeal. Trump’s filing comes three days shy of the third anniversary of the attack on Capitol Hill by angry Trump supporters who were urged to “fight like hell” to prevent a certification of President Joe Biden’s election.

With his appeal, Trump will now stay on the Colorado ballot and his name will be officially certified as a candidate there, along with the other GOP hopefuls, on Friday. 

That is, unless the Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling. Friday also happens to be the high court’s next  scheduled conference day to consider new cases.

Legal analysts have said almost from the moment that the Colorado ruling was handed down that the case would present the U.S. Supreme Court with a number of novel legal questions to consider.

Among the choices are whether the language of the post-Civil War amendment applies to a candidate for president in the 21st century, and who, ultimately, gets to decide whether someone engaged in an insurrection or not.

The Colorado Republican Party had already filed its own appeal in the case. Based on language in the state court ruling, Trump for now remains on the Colorado ballot until the Supreme Court acts.

In their 43-page filing with the court, Trump’s attorneys argue that allowing the Colorado ruling to stand would “mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate.” 

They go on to assert that the only appropriate thing for the justices to do is to “return the right to vote for their candidate of choice to the voters.” 

Only Congress has the authority to decide who is eligible to serve as president, they added.

In a written statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the ruling by the Colorado court is “an unAmerican, unconstitutional act of election interference which cannot stand.”

He goes on to say the campaign is urging the court to hand down “a clear, summary rejection of the Colorado Supreme Court’s wrongful ruling” and ensure the “execution of a free and fair election this November.”

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, the defendant in the case that was heard by the state Supreme Court, also issued a statement Wednesday, in which she urged the justices “to consider the case as quickly as possible.”

“Coloradans — and the American people — deserve clarity on whether someone who engaged in insurrection may run for the country’s highest office,” she said.

With certification of the Colorado ballot set for Friday, the next important deadlines related to the state’s primary are as follows:

• Jan. 20: Deadline for 2024 presidential primary ballots to be sent to military and overseas voters.
• Feb. 12: First day 2024 presidential primary ballots can be mailed to active registered voters.
• Feb. 26: First day of in-person voting for the 2024 presidential primary.
• March 5: Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary day, polls close at 7 p.m. Mountain Time.

In the wake of the Colorado ruling, Trump was also removed from the ballot in Maine, by its secretary of state, who also suspended the ruling pending appeals. Trump appealed that ban in state court on Tuesday.

Separately, Trump faces 91 criminal charges, 17 for election subversion. In the federal election subversion case, the U.S. Supreme Court is also due to consider Trump’s claim that he enjoys immunity from prosecution for any acts in office.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue