The 2024 election is being reshaped by the courts as Colorado decides to strike Trump from its primary ballot, energizing other blue states to follow suit.
WASHINGTON—The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot will rock the political and legal landscape of the nation, responses to the ruling indicate.
On the legal front, both sides of the political aisle are looking to the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately define what it means to wage an insurrection against the United States for the purposes of disqualification from office. On the political front, the ruling is set to galvanize President Trump’s supporters and escalate political pressure on the Supreme Court.
Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4–3 on Dec. 19 that President Trump is to be barred from the state’s primary ballot because he “engaged in insurrection” by inciting his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
But many legal experts, particularly of a more conservative persuasion, argue that the court’s five-day evidentiary hearing was insufficient to make the decision and that the ruling misconstrued the facts of the Jan. 6 incident.
President Trump’s lawyers and other stakeholders have announced that they’ll appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling is currently on hold until Jan. 4, 2024, to give the high court a chance to weigh in.
Some pollsters and consultants and even President Trump’s primary opponents said the ruling will be perceived as unfair and bolster support for the former president.
Democrat politicians have largely welcomed the ruling while acknowledging that the Supreme Court will have to settle the matter. Some have called for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving President Trump.
The ruling bears little direct impact on the election since candidates don’t need to be on the ballot in all 50 states to win and President Trump is unlikely to carry the deep-blue Colorado anyway.
Nonetheless, the ruling appears to be triggering and renewing efforts to kick the former president off the ballot in other blue-leaning states, including New York, California, and Pennsylvania.
By Lawrence Wilson, Petr Svab, Sam Dorman
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