Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been ruled ineligible to run for president in 2024 due to his involvement in the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a recent decision by the Colorado Supreme Court.
Based on the 14th Amendment, the ruling has barred Trump from the presidential primary ballot and is expected to spark a legal battle before the nation’s highest court.
M10News reported that the Colorado Supreme Court’s majority opinion, a 4-3 ruling, is expected to garner criticism from Trump supporters and applause from those who have condemned Trump’s behaviour during the January 6 riot.
The court’s majority wrote that the former president “engaged in insurrection” by urging his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
The justices further stated that Trump’s actions were overt and voluntary, undertaken over several months. He had conceived and set in motion a common unlawful purpose to prevent Congress from certifying the election and stopping the peaceful power transfer.
According to the verdict, Trump is ineligible to serve as president under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, and it would be illegal for him to be listed as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot under the Election Code.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision was based on a monthslong challenge to Trump’s ballot eligibility under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which deems former office-holders ineligible from running again if they took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S.
Pending an appeal, the decision has been postponed until January 4. Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright and Justices Carlos A. Samour Jr. and Maria E. Berkenkotter dissented from the majority ruling. Boatright argued that the case should have been dismissed because Trump had not been found guilty of insurrection-related offences. At the same time, Samour contended that the majority’s ruling “flies in the face of the due process doctrine.”
Overall, the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to bar Trump from the presidential primary ballot based on his involvement in the January 6 riot sets up a legal battle before the nation’s highest court about the fate of next year’s election.
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