In a 4-3 ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court has removed Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential election ballot, arguing that he is ineligible to be a candidate under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment “because he engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021, after swearing an oath as President to support the U.S. Constitution.”
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
“We conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list President Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. Therefore, the Secretary may not list President Trump’s name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, nor may she count any write-in votes cast for him,” the ruling stated.
The ruling will not go into effect until January 4, 2024, pending an appeal to the US Supreme Court.