In a 4-3 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court has held that former President Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president because he engaged in an insurrection in violation of the 14th Amendment.
In turn, the court found on Tuesday that Trump, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, should not be listed on Colorado’s presidential primary ballot, though the court delayed the full impact of its ruling until Jan. 4 to allow time for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement released Tuesday night, the Trump campaign said Colorado’s high court justices were all appointed by Democrats and that the decision shortchanges the rights of the state’s voters.
“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight, and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,” the statement says. “We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these un-American lawsuits.”
Colorado’s Democratic Party leaders are paranoid about Trump’s poll ratings against President Biden, according to the statement.
“They have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November,” campaign officials said.
Colorado’s high court agreed with a lower court's Nov. ruling that determined the events on Jan. 6 amounted to an insurrection. The court ruled that Trump's personal actions incited the attack, including the speech he made that day, which was not protected by the First Amendment.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the court said. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
A litigation tracker operated by the Lawfare website indicates that similar lawsuits challenging Trump’s eligibility as a presidential candidate are pending in 13 states. But in 12 other states, the lawsuits have been dismissed voluntarily by the plaintiffs. In four states, Trump eligibility lawsuits have been dismissed by courts, and appeals are pending in two other states. Only Colorado has disqualified Trump.
The states where courts have rejected such lawsuits are Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Florida. No such cases have been presented in 18 states.
Nik Sus, the director of strategic litigation for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), which litigated the Colorado case, said many of the pending cases will not be successful.
“The vast majority of those lawsuits were filed by an … unrepresented litigant in federal court, and already a number of federal courts have dismissed those cases for lack of standing,” Sus told Legal Newsline. “... There are only a handful of cases around the country that have any chance of reaching the merits.”
He noted that in Colorado, there was a trial and evidentiary hearing and that Trump’s attorneys were given the chance to present their own evidence. In an appeal, however, the U.S. Supreme Court is the logical venue to resolve conflicts in federal law and bring uniformity to decisions made by states, according to Sus.
“Any notion that there will be a patchwork of results here is not really realistic,” he said.
In one of the dissenting opinions, Justice Carlos Samour Jr. said the part of the Constitution in question – Section 3 of the 14th Amendment – is not “self-executing” and that only Congress can pass legislation to enforce its provisions.
“Because no federal legislation currently exists to power Section 3 and propel it into action, because President Trump has not been charged under (U.S. Code) section 2383, and because there is absolutely no authority permitting Colorado state courts to use Colorado’s Election Code as an engine to provide the necessary thrust to effectuate Section 3, I respectfully dissent,” Samour said.