Anti-Donald Trump Chants Greet Lawyers Entering Supreme Court

Demonstrators chanted "Who's Trump? Traitor!" as attorney Jason Murray arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday morning ahead of a case on whether Donald Trump is eligible to again hold office.

Trump's legal team is seeking to overturn a ruling by Colorado's highest court in December that removed him from the state primary ballot on the basis that he is unable to serve again in the White House because of the Constitution's insurrection clause.

Murray is the Denver lawyer representing the Colorado voters who launched legal action to remove Trump from the ballot based on the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which covers those who engage in "insurrection."

A 41-second clip of the protest and Murray's arrival was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Laura Loomer, a Trump-supporting social media personality.

She wrote: "Anti-Trump protesters have arrived outside of the United States Supreme Court this morning. They can be seen in this video shouting 'TRUMP IS A TRAITOR' at the lawyers as they walked into the court. Today SCOTUS is reviewing the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove Trump from the ballot... Capitol Police also has buses on site for crowd control."

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane estimated there were a maximum of 12 demonstrators.

He said: "There are far more media cameras than protestors outside the Supreme Court for arguments today on Trump's ballot eligibility and the 14th amendment. Maybe a dozen protestors with signs..... at most.."

In its December ruling the Colorado Supreme Court said: "A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

The decision was condemned as "completely flawed" by Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, who claimed Democrats "have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November."

The Constitution's 14^th Amendment states no "person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military" who after taking an oath "to support the Constitution" went on to engage in "insurrection or rebellion." During Trump's inauguration in January 2017, he took a vow to "preserve, protect and defend."

Critics argue Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result, which included addressing thousands of his supporters before they stormed Congress on January 6, 2021, constituted an insurrection, thus making him ineligible to serve again. Trump strongly denies this and argues Democrats are simply trying to keep him off the ballot.

A petition on MoveOn, a progressive public policy advocacy group, calling on Trump to be disqualified from holding office under Article 14 has gathered more than 480,000 signatures.

Speaking to Newsweek MoveOn Political Action Chief Communications Officer Joel Payne said: "As MoveOn has said many times before, Donald Trump is a danger to our freedoms and democracy.

"MoveOn and its members have been on the frontlines calling for Trump's disqualification for inciting an insurrection, and we will continue to hold Trump and the MAGA extremists that remain in the halls of Congress accountable for undermining our democracy and fundamental freedoms."

Update 02/08/24 12:32 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.