Donald Trump is barred from appearing in next year’s Colorado presidential primary, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The court ruled the 77-year-old former president was ineligible for the White House, citing the rebellion clause of the US Constitution, leading to his removal from the ballot.
This is the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
“The majority of the court held that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” the court wrote in its 4-3 decision.
The ruling remains in place until January 4, or until the US Supreme Court rules on the case.
The Trump campaign is expected to appeal. It said in a statement that it had “full confidence” that the US Supreme Court would quickly side with the former president and “finally put an end to this un-American lawsuit.”
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former President Trump could not participate in the state’s vote. Reuters
His camp also called the decision “totally flawed” and not surprising, noting the Colorado court is made up of judges appointed by Democrats.
But the majority of the court wrote in their decision that they did not draw conclusions easily.
“We are concerned with the magnitude and weight of the question now at hand,” the majority said. “We are also mindful of our duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by the public’s reaction to the decisions the law entrusts us to achieve.”
Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter voted to bar Trump from the primary ballot. AP
The determination was reached after a lower court judge’s earlier decision dismissed the suit.
The judge found that Trump incited rebellion after refusing to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, but he could not be disqualified because it was unclear if the provision was intended to protect the commander in chief.
But the court’s majority said it was absurd that Section 3 stopped “every oath-breaking rebel except the most powerful and it bars oath-breakers from almost every office, both state and federal, except the highest in the land.”
One of the three dissenting justices on the state Supreme Court wrote Tuesday that the questions in the case are too complex to be determined at the state level, and that the government cannot bar someone from office without due process.
“Even if we are convinced that a candidate has committed an egregious act in the past — dare I say it, engaged in sedition — there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office,” wrote Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright. . .
Judge Sarah B. Wallace presided over the final day of the trial for the lawsuit to keep Trump off the ballot. AP
The Colorado lawsuit is one of dozens that have been filed across the country to prevent Trump from appearing on the ballot again.
Section 3, which was cited in the lawsuit, was intended to prohibit former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War.
The left-wing group that brought the Colorado case on behalf of six GOP and unaffiliated voters, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, hailed the decision.
“Our constitution clearly states that those who violate their oath of office by attacking our democracy are barred from serving in government,” said the group’s president Noah Bookbinder.
Other Republicans opposed to Trump soon condemned the decision.
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy declared on X that he will withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is allowed back. He urged other White House hopefuls to do the same.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also spoke to X to say Trump should not be stopped from running for president again by the legal system.
“He should be prevented from being the President of the United States by the voters of this country,” he said.
Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, 51, echoed Christie’s words after an event in Iowa on Tuesday night.
“I will tell you that I don’t think Donald Trump should be president. I think I should be president. I think that’s good for the country,” the former South Carolina governor said, according to the Des Moines Register.
“But I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need a judge to make this decision, we need voters to make this decision.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also weighed in on Tuesday’s decision, and urged the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision.
“The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove candidates from the ballot on spurious legal grounds,” he tweeted.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) blasted the four judges who ruled against Trump.
“These are not Americans and Democrats are so afraid that President Trump will win on Nov. 5, 2024 that they are illegally trying to get him off the ballot,” the New York Trump ally said in a statement.
“Like the unprecedented, ongoing and illegal election interference against President Trump, this will backfire and further strengthen President Trump’s victorious campaign to Save America.”
Trump maintained his campaign statements and attacks on President Biden without mentioning the Colorado vote during a rally in Waterloo, Iowa, on Tuesday night that took place about an hour after the court decision.
Trump lost the state’s general election by 13.5 points in 2020. Super Tuesday is March 5.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
