By Daniel Edu
The Colorado Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on Tuesday, declaring that Donald Trump is ineligible to run for president in 2024 due to his involvement in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Grounded in the 14th Amendment, this consequential ruling prevents Trump’s inclusion in the presidential primary ballot, setting the stage for a potential legal showdown at the national level regarding the outcome of the upcoming election.
In a 4-3 decision, likely to be contested and anticipated to evoke strong reactions from both Trump’s supporters and critics of his actions on January 6, the majority of Colorado’s seven justices argued that the former president had “engaged in insurrection.”
The justices asserted, “President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary.”
Furthermore, the ruling stated, “Moreover, the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power.”
As a result, the ruling concluded, “[W]e conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list President Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
Pending appeal, the justices have temporarily suspended their decision until January 4.
Three judges dissented from the ruling, with Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright, Justices Carlos A. Samour Jr., and Maria E. Berkenkotter expressing differing opinions.
Boatright argued in his dissent that the absence of an insurrection-related conviction against Trump should have led to the dismissal of the case. Samour contended that the majority’s opinion contradicts the due process doctrine.
This ruling marks the conclusion of a protracted challenge in Colorado to Trump’s eligibility for the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which renders former officeholders ineligible for re-election if they engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. after taking an oath to support the Constitution.
