Colorado Supreme Court Excludes Trump from 2024 Elections for Insurrection: Impact on Presidential Candidacy and Other States

LOOK: Colorado Supreme Court excludes Trump from the 2024 elections for insurrection

The Colorado high court determined that Trump had incited an insurrection on January 6, 2021, so on Tuesday it decided to expel him from the state’s Republican primary and prevent him from being on any electoral ballot by appealing for the first time in the country’s history. to the 14th amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits people who have participated in an insurrection from holding elected office.

For the court, Trump, a favorite among Republican candidates seeking the White House, “is disqualified from holding the office of president.”

The start of the primaries

• The Republican primaries begin next January 15 with the Iowa caucuses and Trump is the favorite according to all polls to once again face the now president, Democrat Joe Biden, in the November elections for the White House.
• Colorado will hold its presidential primaries on March 5, on what is known as Super Tuesday, a key date on which 16 states will vote and which could define the race.

The court’s decision stems from a lawsuit brought by a group of voters, supported by the non-governmental group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), who argue that Trump is ineligible to run for president because of his role in the assault. to the Capitol.

The assault on the Capitol occurred while lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory. (Photo: AFP)

Trump attacked the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court this Wednesday and called the ruling a “shame for our country,” as he wrote on his Truth social network. He also suggested that the United States is becoming a “banana republic” and that the decision marks another example of “electoral interference” led by President Joe Biden, whom he accused of being a “threat to democracy.”

“Biden should drop all of these false political accusations against me, both criminal and civil. Every case I fight is the work of the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the White House. Such a thing has never happened in our country before,” he stated.

The president, for his part, considered this Wednesday that Trump “certainly supported an insurrection,” although he said he preferred not to comment on the judicial decision itself.

Impact on your candidacy

The expectation for the meaning of the judicial decision in Trump’s candidacy is maximum. The former president is not only the favorite to obtain the Republican Party presidential nomination for the 2024 elections, but his figure polarizes the country. Can he stay in the race?

Despite the explosiveness of its ruling, the Colorado court has left its own decision on hold until January 4 to allow room for possible appeals, so an appeal could guarantee that Trump’s name appears in the race while the case It is resolved.

Trump’s lawyers had promised to immediately appeal any disqualification to the US Supreme Court, which has the final say in constitutional matters.

Former US president and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, on December 19, 2023. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)

/ KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI

Six of the nine members of the highest court are considered conservative, three of them nominated by Trump himself during his term.

The New York Times notes that it could take some time for the judges to act, and the Colorado Republican primary, scheduled for March, may not be affected.

“Judges may have to grapple with the case’s many interlocking legal issues, which are novel, complex and extraordinarily consequential. In fact, courts in other states have reached different conclusions on some of the issues,” the outlet notes.

Impact on other states?

Trump lost Colorado by 13 percentage points in the 2020 election and does not need the state to win next year’s presidential election. But the danger for the former president is that more courts and electoral officials will follow Colorado’s example and exclude him from states that he should win.

Similar cases were seen in Minnesota and Michigan, but were dismissed. The issue has not been resolved at the federal level.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed nationwide seeking to disqualify Trump under Section 3. The Colorado case is the first in which the plaintiff is victorious.

Trump was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives after the attack on the Capitol, accused of inciting an insurrection, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Most Republicans support Trump’s candidacy for president, according to polls.

Regarding the impact on public opinion, the former president’s followers continue to close ranks around him. “Even people who don’t like Trump intensely feared that the ruling to kick him off the ballot will simply help him with a Republican electorate that will see him as interfering in the election, at a time when Democrats regularly describe Trump as a threat to democracy,” says “The New York Times.”

POINT OF VIEW

“The ruling favors Trump”

Francisco Belaunde

International analyst

This ruling favors Donald Trump. He has always positioned himself as a victim in the face of what he calls a conspiracy by Democrats against him. That speech has allowed him to raise many more funds for his campaign, so now the same is expected. This will benefit him politically regardless of whether the Colorado court’s decision is right or wrong.

It is not so simple to know if this decision could be replicated in other states. This has come after several appeals and instances. Furthermore, the vote ended 4-3, it was neither an overwhelming nor unanimous majority. It is a highly discussed topic. Everything focuses on seeing whether or not that famous amendment that was adopted after the Civil War applies to the president. The whole discussion revolves around that. The Colorado decision does not necessarily mean that other courts will adopt the same position. It is a quite complex topic.

The Iowa primaries are coming up and Trumo is evidently going to use this ruling to his advantage. Even those who are his rivals within the Republican Party have come out to defend him and say that this is an attack. Trump is going to take advantage of all that, without a doubt.

2023-12-21 16:12:50
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