Colorado Republicans Ask Justices to Review Trump Ballot Case

DENVER — The Colorado Republican Party has petitioned the Supreme Court to review a state court ruling that barred former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s primary ballot due to his having engaged in an insurrection after the 2020 election.

In a 45-page petition, attorneys for the Colorado Republican State Central Committee argue that by excluding Trump from the ballot the Colorado Supreme Court has “engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the First Amendment right of political parties to select the candidates of their choice and a usurpation of the rights of the people to choose their elected officials.” 

The filing goes on to say that the court abused its authority by rejecting “a long history of precedent” and concluding “that individual litigants, state courts, and state election officials in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia possess legal authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to remove presidential candidates.”

The filing asks the high court to expedite its consideration of the Colorado GOP’s request for review, arguing that “the drastic effects of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision and the mischief it works upon the 2024 primary election — with national implications — necessitate this court’s immediate review.”

As previously reported by The Well News, Trump was booted from Colorado’s presidential primary ballot on Dec. 19 after the state Supreme Court determined the former president did indeed engage in insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

Specifically, the court said, Trump had stoked false claims of election fraud for weeks after President Joe Biden’s victory then effectively sent a violent mob of his supporters to the U.S. Capitol Building to stop the ongoing certification of the electoral college.

The landmark ruling is the first time a court has denied a presidential candidate a place on the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prevents insurrectionists from holding office.

The law was passed in the wake of the Civil War and was originally intended to prevent former Confederates from serving in elected office. 

Scholars have been divided on the issue of whether the same rule should apply to Trump, but the question is currently before judges in several states ahead of the 2024 contest.

The lawsuit leading to the decision was filed by four Republican and two unaffiliated electors supported by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a D.C.-based watchdog group that says its mission is to take actions that “hold people in power to account.”

In a separate filing with the Supreme Court, the original plaintiffs in the case said they do not oppose the GOP’s petition and, in fact, also urged the justices to act quickly, citing the fact that almost all voting in Colorado is now done by mail, and the state will need time to act on the high court’s ruling in time to hold its primary, as scheduled, on March 5.

The case is docketed at the U.S. Supreme Court as Colorado Republican State Central Committee v. Anderson, No. 23-696.

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