The Colorado Republican Party on Wednesday asked the nation’s highest court to overturn a ruling issued last week that barred former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary.
The request came after the Colorado Supreme Court found that Trump was disqualified from appearing on the ballot because he engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, when a crowd breached the U.S. Capitol as Congress was gathered to formalize President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
The 14th Amendment bars people from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection” after swearing “as an officer of the United States … to support the Constitution.”
Attorneys for the Colorado GOP argued that the amendment is not applicable to the president and that it is the job of Congress, and not the courts, to enforce the provision.
“For the first time in American history, a former President has been disqualified from the ballot, a political party has been denied the opportunity to put forward the presidential candidate of its choice, and the voters have been denied the ability to choose their Chief Executive through the electoral process,” attorneys for the Colorado GOP wrote in the group’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“By excluding President Trump from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the First Amendment right of political parties to select the candidates of their choice and a usurpation of the rights of the people to choose their elected officials.”
Lawsuits in several states have challenged Trump’s ability to appear on ballots in the 2024 presidential election, though none but the Colorado case have led to his name being removed from consideration. On Wednesday, Michigan became the latest state to decline to remove Trump’s name.
The former president — who is leading Republicans vying for the presidential nomination — has criticized the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in several social media posts, calling it “political delusion.”
Biden, who is likely to face Trump in the election, told reporters last week that it was up to the courts to decide whether the 14th Amendment applies in Trump’s case.
“Certain things are self-evident. You saw it all,” he said. “Now, whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero. And he seems to be doubling down … about everything.”
Trump appeared to respond in a post on social media, writing that he is “not an Insurrectionist.”
“Crooked Joe Biden is!!!” he added.
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