Donald Trump Colorado Decision Could Have 'Snowball Effect' on Other States

The decision stating Donald Trump is not eligible to run for president in Colorado in 2024 could have "a snowball effect" and spread to other states, an attorney has said.

Speaking to the BBC, Mario Nicolais, an attorney for the six Colorado voters who brought a lawsuit seeking to bar the Republican candidate from the state's presidential ballot, reacted after the state's supreme court ruled in the plaintiffs' favor.

In a 4-3 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the former president violated the 14th Amendment, which bars public officials from holding federal office if they have engaged in "insurrection." In November, a lower court in Colorado had ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection over his behavior during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, during which his supporters stormed the government building in protest of his election loss.

Trump denied all wrongdoing and that he engaged in insurrection. He has argued that courts do not have the authority to bar candidates from the ballot under the constitutional provision.

Nicolais said that other states could now take similar action. "When you take this particular ruling and other states could use to it to say 'OK well we're going to bar him now' or 'we find that this decision is persuasive in our state as well' and that could have a snowball effect," he said on Wednesday.

He added the plaintiffs are "thrilled with the outcome" of the case.

"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 Colorado Supreme Court said in its ruling.

"President Trump did not merely incite the insurrection," it added. "Even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes. These actions constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection."

Steven Cheung, spokesperson for Trump's campaign, said they would be appealing the decision to to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat-appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a [George] Soros-funded, left-wing group's scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump's name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice," Cheung said in a statement.

Cheung added: "Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls. They 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 Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision. We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits."

Newsweek has contacted Trump representatives by email for further comment.

A similar effort to block Trump in Minnesota failed in November. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled there is currently no state law that prohibits a political party from placing a name on the ballot for "a candidate who is ineligible to hold office."

Also in November, Judge James Redford denied a similar request to keep Trump off the Michigan 2024 presidential primary ballot in November, saying it was a "political question" and not a question to be decided by the courts.