Donald Trump wants to become US President again. However, there are efforts in more than 30 US states to exclude Republicans from voting. His lawyers have therefore now turned to the Supreme Court.
In the US, lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked the country’s Supreme Court to overturn a court decision banning Trump from the Republican primary in Colorado. The lawyers said Thursday (local time) that they expect the court to “put a swift and decisive end to these efforts to disenfranchise people,” noting that similar efforts are underway in more than 30 states. The Colorado Supreme Court decided on December 19th to exclude Trump from the primaries because of his actions in connection with the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
The plaintiffs – six conservative Republican and independent voters in Colorado – had disputed Trump’s suitability to run given his actions before the attack. You now have until January 31st to respond to his objection. The justices have scheduled an oral hearing for February 8th. Colorado’s Republican primary is scheduled for March 5. Donald Trump is considered his party’s leading candidate for the nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the US elections on November 5th.
Donald Trump was excluded from the election because of “rebellion”
The Colorado ruling marked the first time that Section Three of the 14th Amendment – the so-called Disqualification Clause – was used to declare a presidential candidate ineligible. Section three prohibits any “officer in the United States” who has sworn an oath from holding office after he has “participated in any insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or assistance to the enemies thereof.”
The Colorado lawsuit is part of a broader effort to bar Trump from voting in many states under the 14th Amendment. For example, the ex-president has also appealed to a court in Maine against the decision there to exclude him from the election. However, the case will remain on hold until the Supreme Court makes its decision in the Colorado case.
