The original disqualification order came with many conditions, and the U.S. Supreme Court may not step in at all.
With the Colorado GOP’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep former president and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump on the state’s primary ballot, President Trump is near certain to stay on the ballot.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s office said that “Donald Trump will be included as a candidate on Colorado’s 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot when certification occurs on January 5, 2024, unless the U.S. Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.”
Secretary Jena Griswold added in a comment that she is in support of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to disqualify President Trump.
“Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified under the Constitution from the Colorado Ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court got it right,” Ms. Grisworld stated.
“This decision is now being appealed. I urge the U.S. Supreme Court to act quickly given the upcoming presidential primary election.”
On Dec. 19, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled President Trump ineligible as a candidate under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which stipulates that people who have taken an oath of office and then participated in an “insurrection” or “rebellions” cannot return to office without a two-thirds vote from Congress to remove the disability.
Activists have argued that Jan. 6, 2021, constituted an insurrection, and legal scholars and experts in recent months have debated over the application of the Civil War-era statute as it pertains to President Trump’s eligibility for office.
Lawsuits challenging his eligibility have been filed in about half the states across the nation, but both federal and state judges have largely dismissed the cases on procedural and jurisdictional grounds. Reasons have included the interpretation that primaries and political party functions and not governed by the state secretary’s office, to rejecting the idea that the framers of the 14th Amendment meant for each state to determine their own definition of “insurrection.”
Will the Supreme Court Act?
The Colorado Supreme Court ruling included several specific conditions. It had stayed its own order to remove President Trump from the ballot until Jan. 4, just one day before the deadline to certify the primary ballots. That stay would be lifted if no party sought an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. Once an appeal is filed, the secretary is ordered to follow any U.S. Supreme Court decision instead.
If the U.S. Supreme Court decides to reject the case by Jan. 4, Colorado will remove President Trump from the primary ballot.
Read the full story at The Epoch Times.
