In a historic decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to run for president in 2024 due to his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The ruling, based on the 14th Amendment, is poised to set the stage for a legal battle before the nation’s highest court, impacting the fate of the upcoming election.
The 4-3 ruling, expected to face an imminent appeal, invokes the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from appearing on the presidential primary ballot. A majority of Colorado’s seven justices asserted that Trump had “engaged in insurrection,” citing his explicit efforts over several months to incite his supporters to march on the Capitol under false pretenses of election fraud.
The justices argued that Trump’s actions were overt, voluntary, and undertaken with the intent to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election, thereby obstructing the peaceful transfer of power. They concluded that, under Section Three of the 14th Amendment, Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President.
In light of this disqualification, the ruling states that listing Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot would be a wrongful act under the Election Code. The justices, however, stayed their decision until Jan. 4, pending an appeal process.
Three judges dissented from the majority opinion. Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright, along with Justices Carlos A. Samour Jr. and Maria E. Berkenkotter, expressed their disagreement with the ruling. Boatright argued that the absence of an insurrection-related conviction should have led to the dismissal of the case, while Samour criticized the majority’s opinion as contradicting the due process doctrine.
The ruling follows a prolonged challenge in Colorado regarding Trump’s ballot eligibility under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This constitutional clause, rooted in the Civil War era, renders former officeholders ineligible to run again if they took an oath to support the Constitution and subsequently engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S.
