The Colorado Republican Party in the United States on Wednesday appealed a state Supreme Court ruling that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to run for president, a potential first step toward a showdown in the nation's highest court over the meaning of a 155-year-old constitutional provision barring those who "participated in rebellion" from holding office, writes UNN citing AP.
Details
The first result of the appeal is an extension of a 4-3 ruling by Colorado's highest court, which had put its decision on hold until Jan. 4, the day before ballots for the state's primaries must be turned in to the printer or until an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is completed. Trump himself has said he still plans to appeal the decision to the nation's highest court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was added after the Civil War to prevent former Confederates from returning to government. It says that anyone who swore to "support" the Constitution and then "participated in rebellion" against it cannot hold public office.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled it applied to Trump after his role in attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop President Joe Biden's confirmation victory in the 2020 presidential election. It was the first time in history that the provision was used to block a presidential candidate's campaign.
Верховный суд Колорадо принял решение о дисквалификации Трампа на выборах в штате20.12.2023, 09:29
"The Colorado Supreme Court has excluded the leading Republican candidate from the primaries and general election, fundamentally altering the course of American democracy," the party's lawyers wrote. The statement was posted on the website of a group run by Jay Sekulow, Trump's former attorney representing the Colorado Republican Party, who announced he was filing an appeal Wednesday. Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams also said the appeal was filed Wednesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear the case either after an appeal by the Colorado Republican Party or Trump himself. If Trump gets off the ballot in Colorado, it would have minimal impact on his campaign because he doesn't need the state, which he lost by 13 percentage points in 2020, to win the Electoral College in the presidential election, the publication notes. But it could open the door for courts or election officials to exclude him from the ballot in other states where victory is mandatory.
Sean Grimsley, an attorney for the plaintiffs seeking to disqualify Trump in Colorado, said on a legal podcast last week that he hopes the nation's highest court will hurry up once it accepts the case as he expects. "Obviously, we're going to demand an extremely expedited timeline for all the reasons I've given: we have a primary on 'Super Tuesday' and we need to know the answer," Grimsley said.
More than a dozen states, including Colorado, plan to hold primaries on March 5, "Super Tuesday."
To date, no other court has sided with those who have filed dozens of lawsuits to disqualify Trump under Section 3, and no election official has been willing to unilaterally remove him from the ballot without a court order.
However, the Colorado case was considered the case with the best chance of success because it was brought by a liberal group from Washington, D.C., with sufficient legal resources. All seven Colorado Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democrats.
The unprecedented constitutional issues in this case, however, are not divided along clear partisan lines. Several prominent conservative legal theorists are among the most ardent supporters of disqualifying Trump under Section 3. They argue that the plain meaning of the constitutional language prohibits him from running again, just as clearly as if he had not reached the document's minimum age of 35 for the presidency, the publication writes.
The half-dozen plaintiffs in the Colorado case are all Republican or independent voters.
Trump has reacted sharply to those cases, calling them "election interference." He followed that up on Wednesday by upholding a decision earlier in the day by the Michigan Supreme Court that left him on the ballot, at least in that state's primary.
"The people of Colorado have embarrassed our country with their actions," Trump said on Sean Hannity's radio show.
ФБР расследует дело Трампа в связи с угрозами в адрес судей в Колорадо26.12.2023, 09:58