Former US president Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court this Wednesday, January 3, to review a ruling that excluded him from the Colorado state ballot for the presidential primaries. Colorado turned to a constitutional provision that bars anyone who “engages in an insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office.
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Former President Donald Trump asked the United States Supreme Court this Wednesday, December 3, to intervene after the high court of the state of Colorado disqualified him from the Republican primaries with a view to this year's presidential election for participating in the insurrection that led to the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol.
His legal team filed the appeal before the US Supreme Court a day after appealing a similar decision in Maine to the Superior Court.
In both states it was considered that the former president and new electoral candidate cannot run for a second term in the White House by virtue of section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, for having participated in an “insurrection.”
Trump, the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, is challenging the Colorado Supreme Court's Dec. 19 decision that disqualified him under a constitutional provision that prohibits anyone from “engaging in an insurrection or rebellion.” hold a public office.
The state high court had already stayed its decision until Jan. 4, stating that Trump would remain in the primary if he appealed.
Later, on December 28, Maine became the second state to disqualify Trump. In this case, the decision was made by the Secretary of State of Maine, Democrat Shenna Bellows, who is the authority in charge of organizing the elections in that district.
USA: Maine bans Trump from 2024 presidential election
Republican Donald Trump's filing puts a politically explosive case before the nation's highest judicial body, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three of his own appointees.
The judges' action will shape a broader effort to disqualify Trump from other state votes as the 2024 elections approach.
Specifically, Trump's lawyers asked the justices to “summarily overturn” the Colorado Supreme Court because the question of presidential eligibility is reserved for Congress.
The state court's decision marks “the first time in American history that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting their ballots for the major party's leading presidential candidate,” the lawyers said, adding that the ruling “is neither may be correct.”
The Jan. 6 attack was an attempt by Trump supporters to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, which the former president falsely claims was the result of fraud.
The Colorado court's landmark ruling marked the first time in history that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution – the so-called disqualification clause – was used to deem a presidential candidate ineligible for the White House.
trump He also appealed to a Maine state court a decision by that state's chief elections official barring him from participating in the primary elections. under the same constitutional provision at issue in the Colorado case.
In both Maine and Colorado, the primaries will take place on March 5, a day known as 'Super Tuesday' because more than a dozen Republican and Democratic states simultaneously hold primaries to choose which candidate will represent them in the presidential elections.
Disqualification clause
The Colorado Supreme Court ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Republican and unaffiliated voters, and backed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, that sought to exclude Trump from the nominating primaries and future elections under the disqualification clause.
Section 3 prohibits from holding office any “official of the United States” who has sworn to “support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engages in an insurrection or rebellion against the same, or has given aid or comfort to its enemies.” “. “
The amendment was ratified after the American Civil War of 1861-1865, in which 11 southern states seceded from the union.
The Colorado Supreme Court's 4-3 ruling overturned a lower court judge's finding that Trump participated in an insurrection by inciting his supporters to violence, but as president, he was not an “officer of the United States” who could be disqualified under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Colorado court found that Trump's role in inciting violence at the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the 2020 election results constituted participation in an insurrection, and that the presidency is covered by the insurrection provision.
“President Trump asks us to hold that Section Three disqualifies all but the most powerful insurrectionist oath-breakers, and excludes oath-breakers from virtually all offices, both state and federal, except the most powerful.” highest in the country. Both results are inconsistent with the plain language and history of Section Three,” the majority wrote.
Acknowledging the magnitude of the case, the majority said: “We are equally aware of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions the law requires us to make.”
Trump's lawyers argued that his speech to supporters on the day of the riot was protected by his right to free speech, adding that the constitutional amendment does not apply to US presidents and that Congress would have to vote to disqualify a candidate.
Courts have rejected several lawsuits seeking to keep Trump out of primaries in other states.
Minnesota's high court rejected an attempt to disqualify Trump from the Republican primary in that state, but did not rule on his overall eligibility to serve as president.
Adapted from EFE and AP.
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