Court blocks Trump from 2024 ballot

LOS ANGELES — The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump is ineligible to run for president in 2024 because of the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, and the Centennial State authority should disqualify the former US president from appearing on the ballot in the 2024 presidential election.

The court, in a 4-3 opinion, found that Trump is barred under a provision of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that prohibits people who engaged in insurrection from running for office and ordered the Secretary of State of Colorado not to list Trump's name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot or to count any write-in votes cast for him.

Colorado's case is the first of many legal challenges across the country to result in a ruling disqualifying Trump from the ballot as the former president seeks the 2024 Republican nomination, also marking the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and attacked the case in Colorado and similar lawsuits in other states against him as baseless and anti-democratic.

The Colorado Supreme Court stayed Tuesday's ruling until Jan 4,2024, the day before the deadline for the Secretary of State to certify its presidential primary ballots.

It's a near certainty the case will head to the US Supreme Court, The Denver Post predicted, adding that Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, promised to file an appeal to the US Supreme Court quickly.

Cheung called the Colorado Supreme Court's decision "completely flawed".

All seven members of the Colorado Supreme Court were appointed by the state's Democratic governors. The suit was filed in early September against Trump and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, but the legal battle has always been between the plaintiffs and Trump's legal team.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says officials who take an oath to support the Constitution are banned from future office if they "engaged in insurrection".The Civil War-era constitutional clause is designed to disqualify anyone who took the oath of office in the Confederacy from running for public office.

It does not explicitly mention the presidency and has only been applied twice since 1919.

The Colorado Supreme Court's majority on Tuesday reversed a lower court's decision that the president was not an "officer "under the Constitution; therefore, the clause did not apply.

Legal cases

Trump has frequently claimed "presidential immunity" in legal cases against him, trying to also have the felony charges against him dismissed.

"We have full confidence that the US Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these un-American lawsuits," Cheung said in a statement.

Nevertheless, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected his "immunity" claim on felony charges, ruling Trump's time in the White House did not give him the "divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens".

Noah Bookbinder of the campaign group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which brought the original case, took to social media to hail Tuesday's ruling, calling it "a huge moment for democracy".

"It is not only historic and justified but is necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country. Our Constitution clearly states that those who violate their oath by attacking our democracy are barred from serving in government."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — who is running against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination but has closely aligned himself with many of the former president's political positions — said the US Supreme Court "should reverse" the Colorado ruling.

Trump's team was counting on the winding appellate process to delay the trial past the November 2024 election.

Lawsuits citing the 14th Amendment against Trump were dismissed early by multiple courts in many states, including Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Florida.

Agencies - Xinhua