Colorado attempts to Remove Trump from the Ballot

The State of Colorado attempted to remove Former President Donald J. Trump from the 2024 primary ballot. The majority liberal court in a 4-3 decision made history by being the first state Supreme Court to invoke the Insurrection Clause to remove a candidate from the ballot. In response, the Republican Party and Trump filed separate suits to overturn Colorado’s court ruling. Colorado’s Supreme Court on December 19th ruled that Former President Donald J. Trump is ineligible to appear on its ballot stating that it would violate the 14th Amendment Insurrection Clause.

The 14th Amendment’s insurrection or rebellion clause prevented  Confederates from running for office or holding positions in the Government. The intention of this clause in the 14th Amendment is to prevent individuals from inciting another Civil War. According to EG U.S.C 18.2383 defines rebellion and insurrection as a violent and organized attempt to overthrow the government with armed violence. Any person engaging in, inciting, or giving comfort to any individual committing rebellion is legally liable under the laws of the United States of America.  The penalty for committing an act of rebellion or insurrection is 10 years in prison and a 250,000 dollar fine per count which also disqualifies you from holding office in the United States of America. 

The Colorado Republican Party appealed the 4-3 decision that removed Trump from Colorado’s ballot. The Supreme Court issued a stay preventing Colorado from removing him from the ballot. The Colorado Republicans appealed the decision for two reasons: Trump was acquitted of inciting insurrection in the Jan 6th incident. Therefore, he is not guilty of inciting insurrection under the law. It would set the precedent that any vote or group could sue and get a candidate disqualified from an election.

The Colorado Republican Party lawyers in their filing said this,

“By excluding President Trump from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court engaged in an unprecedented usurpation of the rights of the people to choose their elected official. 

By excluding former President Trump from the ballot the Colorado Supreme Court exceed their authority and violated the rights of the American citizen. Americans are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and Congress acquitted Trump of the January 6th incident at the Capitol. If the Supreme Court upholds the Colorado ruling then any political candidate could be disqualified from the ballot for any “criminal” act without conviction. 

If an individual can be disqualified from holding or pursuing office after he is acquitted then no individual’s rights to run for election are safe. According to CBS News, the Republicans are pushing the U.S. Supreme Court for a speedy decision because ballots go out on January 5th. If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the case, they would likely to rule on the matter by mid- February.