🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
The historic ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Donald Trump from the state's 2024 ballot for violating the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause could have a domino effect resulting in similar lawsuits involving the former president, according to an attorney.
The Colorado Supreme Court decided in a 4-3 ruling to bar Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, from running for office in 2024 while citing violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The clause states that a person who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after taking an oath of office to support the Constitution should be barred from running for office again.
Reacting to former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance writing on X, formerly Twitter, that "insurrectionists don't qualify to be candidates," Gerald Griggs, a lawyer and president of Georgia's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter posted: "This will trigger more lawsuits from other citizens in other States."
The ruling is the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. Similar lawsuits against Trump citing the insurrection clause filed in states such as New Hampshire, Florida, Minnesota and Michigan have previously been thrown out by the courts, which are all at various stages of appeals.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment.
The unprecedented decision from the Colorado Supreme Court was in response to an appeal by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington watchdog group and Republican figures, whose lawsuit to prohibit Trump from running for president while citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was rejected by a lower court judge.
Judge Sarah B. Wallace previously said that Trump had "engaged in insurrection" on January 6, 2021, when his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol to protest his loss in the 2020 election. However, she said Trump should remain on Colorado's primary ballot as the wording of the 14th Amendment does not explicitly mention preventing people from running for the presidency.
"We do not reach these conclusions lightly," the Colorado Supreme Court majority justices wrote in an opinion. "We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach."
Dave Williams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said the state could withdraw from the 2024 primary and have a strip caucus process instead to still allow voters to choose Trump as their presidential nomination.
Trump spokesperson Steve Cheung said in a statement that the former president will "swiftly" file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over the "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," Cheung said.
Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has since become a vocal critic of the former president, believes that the conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated to the bench by Trump, will unanimously vote in favor of the Republican in a Colorado lawsuit appeal.
"I think this case will be handled quickly. I think it could be 9-0 in the Supreme Court for Trump," Cobb told CNN, adding: "I do believe it could be 9-0 because I think the law is clear.
"The real key issue in this case is, is Trump an officer of the United States in the context in which that term is used in Article 3 of the 14th Amendment," Cobb said. "And in 2010, Chief Justice Roberts explained in free enterprise that people don't vote for officers of the United States."
fairness meter
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more