- Trump will remain on the presidential primary ballot in Colorado for now
- Comes after the Colorado GOP appealed the state’s ruling to the Supreme Court
- Colorado Supreme Court is using clause 3 of the 14th Amendment to say Trump is disqualified from running because he engaged in an insurrection on January 6
Donald Trump is back on the presidential ballot in Colorado after an appeal put a stay on the ruling that removed him under an ‘insurrection’ clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The Colorado Republican Party filed on Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to look at the lower court’s ruling that disqualified Trump from running on the presidential ballot in the state due to his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswol announced that Trump will for the time being remain on the ballot, which goes to print on January 5 – unless the Supreme Court affirms the lower court’s ruling or otherwise declines to take on the appeal.
The 4-3 ruling earlier this month said Trump would not appear on the state’s primary ballot, according to a 155-year-old 14th Amendment clause that bans those from office who ‘engaged in insurrection.’
Although Colorado’s 10 Electoral College votes are unlikely to go to the Republican candidate anyway in the general election – and the state isn’t highly important in the GOP primary – the ruling could set precedent for a slew of other states looking to remove Trump from the ballot.
The Michigan Supreme Court, however, already ruled after Colorado to leave the ex-president on the ballot for the state’s primary – and the midwest swing state is much more important to clinching the White House in 2024.
Louisiana became the latest state to see a lawsuit filed attempting to keep Trump off the ballot related to the January 6 , 2021 Capitol riot.
‘Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified under the Constitution from the Colorado Ballot,’ Griswold said in a press release.
‘The Colorado Supreme Court got it right. This decision is now being appealed,’ she continued. ‘I urge the U.S. Supreme Court to act quickly given the upcoming presidential primary election.’
The Colorado Supreme Court put a stay – or pause – on its ruling until January 4 to allow time for the appeal process.
Former Trump attorney Jay Sekulow’s conservative American Center for Law & Justice filed a petition Wednesday that would overturn Colorado’s controversial decision.
‘We’ve been saying from the day we took this case that this was one that would end up at the U.S. Supreme Court,’ Seklow wrote in a statement on the filing along with his son Jordan.
‘Today, we just filed a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s dangerously flawed twisting of the 14th Amendment to ban President Trump from the ballot,’ wrote the father-son duo, who are representing Colorado’s GOP.
‘This is the most important case we have ever taken on,’ they added. ‘Because if we lose our right to vote, we lose our constitutional republic.’
‘We expect this case to move very quickly, and we will keep you updated on its progress.’