Colorado’s Supreme Court has officially ruled that former President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, have made him ineligible to run for president in 2024.
This is the first state supreme court to make a ruling against the president after challengers in Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Florida claimed the 14th Amendment barred the president from being able to hold office.
The challenges in the federal, district, and supreme courts were all thrown out.
However, the majority 4-3 ruling from Colorado could change things.
The justices made it clear that they felt Trump had “engaged in insurrection,” something that will most likely be brought before the United States Supreme Court before next year’s election.
“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,” the justices wrote in their majority decision.
“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.”
Because of this, the justices concluded: “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.”
The ruling will be stayed until Jan. 4, pending any appeals from Trump and his legal team.
In dissent, Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright wrote that the “absence of an insurrection-related conviction” should have stopped the case from moving forward.
The ruling concludes a challenge that has been going on for months, and a spokesperson for the former president said they expect the decision to be overruled by the high court.
“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight .... We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits,” spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Still, the ruling in Colorado could potentially lead to more rulings of such nature, with many judges who dismissed the case citing lack of precedence for their decision.
With the 2024 election fast approaching, much will still need to be hammered out to see who is on the ballot next November and who isn’t.