Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn Colorado ban
Donald Trump has petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn a Colorado decision that disqualified him from running for president in that state.
Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible due to his alleged involvement in the insurrection at the US Capitol. This appeal follows a similar challenge in Maine.
Numerous lawsuits across various states seek to bar Trump from the 2024 ballot, with mixed outcomes—Minnesota and Michigan courts dismissed such efforts, while cases in states like Oregon are still pending. A US Supreme Court ruling would have nationwide implications.
In both Colorado and Maine, legal challenges accused Trump of inciting the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, invoking the 14th Amendment, which prohibits individuals involved in insurrection from holding federal office.
The Trump campaign criticized the Colorado Supreme Court and President Biden, alleging an attempt to disenfranchise voters and called for a summary rejection of the ruling.
The Colorado decision, with four judges in favor and three against, is temporarily on hold pending resolution of legal challenges.
Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Trump attorney Alina Habba said the former president is concerned the conservative-leaning Supreme Court could rule against him in order to “shy away from being pro-Trump”.
“That’s a concern he’s voiced to me, he’s voiced to everybody publicly, not privately,” she said. “And I can tell you that his concern is a valid one.”
The Colorado case marks the first time in US history that the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate from the ballot.
While Mr Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election are the focus of trials in federal court and a state court in Georgia, Mr Trump has not been charged with inciting insurrection in either case.
Speaking to the BBC after Colorado’s ruling, legal experts said the politically contentious Colorado case puts the Supreme Court in a precarious and difficult position.
“The Supreme Court is being asked to define the boundaries of democracy,” Samuel Issacharoff, a constitutional law professor at New York University, said.
One of the most challenging aspects, Prof Issacharoff said, is that the former president “has tremendous support on one side of the aisle and tremendous vilification on the other”.
On Tuesday, David Janovksy, a senior policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog, said that the Supreme Court taking up the issue is the “best outcome” to solve the issue nationally.
“The fact that we now have two states in Colorado and Maine that have made this determination against the backdrop of other states that have declined to go that far means that if there was ever a case for the Supreme Court to resolve, this would be it,” he said.
