The Colorado GOP filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking a review of the Colorado Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
On Dec. 19, the Colorado Supreme Court, in a controversial move, declared President Trump ineligible, invoking a provision that bars individuals who have engaged in “insurrection” against the United States from holding office.
The state’s Supreme Court stayed its ruling until Jan. 4, 2024, the day before ballots are due to be printed, or until a U.S. Supreme Court appeal is concluded. The Colorado GOP has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to extend that stay.
The appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to set the stage for a significant legal battle with potentially far-reaching implications for the disqualification of presidential candidates based on the 14th Amendment.
“The Colorado Supreme Court has removed the leading Republican candidate from the primary and general ballots, fundamentally changing the course of American democracy,” the petition reads.
The Colorado GOP, in its petition for a writ of certiorari, wrote that the state Supreme Court’s unprecedented decision urgently merits review to prevent “the potential chaos wrought by an imprudent, unconstitutional, and standardless system in which each state gets to adjudicate Section Three disqualification cases on an ad hoc basis.”
