According to a court ruling, former US President Donald Trump will not be allowed to take part in the presidential primaries in the state of Colorado next year. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in a sensational decision that the Republican was disqualified from running for president because of his role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. That is why he is not allowed to take part in his party’s presidential primaries in Colorado.
It would be a violation of the Western US state’s election law “to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot,” the ruling said. The decision was made with a narrow majority of four to three judges. The judges emphasized that they did not make it “easy” for themselves when making their decision.
However, the decision that revolves around the accusation of “insurrection” is not final: the question is likely to end up before the US Supreme Court, where conservative judges form a clear majority. The Colorado court put its decision on hold until January 4 to allow time for an appeal.
A group of voters had argued that Trump should not run based on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. This stipulates that no one may hold public office if he or she has taken part in an “insurrection or insurrection” against the Constitution after taking an oath to defend it. Trump opponents argued that because of his role in the storming of the Capitol, the ex-president should not run for the White House again.
A spokesman for Trump’s campaign team condemned a “deeply undemocratic” court decision in Colorado on Tuesday and announced an appeal to the Supreme Court in Washington. “We are confident that the Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these un-American lawsuits.”
In addition to Colorado, there are also efforts in other states to exclude Trump from the primaries on the basis of the constitutional amendment. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – a competitor of Trump in the Republican presidential race – wrote on the short message service X that the left was “abusing legal power to remove a candidate from the ballot.”
Trump is the overwhelming favorite in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and is leading polls by a large margin. The Republican primaries begin on January 15th in the state of Iowa, and in Colorado the primaries are scheduled for March 5th. The primary election winner will face incumbent Joe Biden of the Democratic Party in the presidential election on November 5, 2024.
Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election. However, Trump refused to acknowledge his defeat and made allegations of massive election fraud, which were often refuted.
The right-wing populist’s crusade against his election defeat resulted in the attack by radical Trump supporters on the Congress, where Biden’s election victory was to be finally confirmed on January 6, 2021. Shortly before the attack, Trump had called on his supporters to march to the Capitol and fight “no matter what.”
The 77-year-old former president has now been indicted twice for his attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election and thus stay in power. One of the criminal proceedings was initiated by the federal judiciary, the other by the Georgia state judiciary. The process is likely to begin next year, right in the middle of the election campaign.
