The Colorado GOP filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking a review of the Colorado Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
On Dec. 19, the Colorado Supreme Court, in a controversial move, declared President Trump ineligible, invoking a provision that bars individuals who have engaged in “insurrection” against the United States from holding office.
Now, with the Colorado GOP’s petition and President Trump’s lawyers indicating their intention to appeal the decision, the stay looks to be extended until the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision.
In its petition, the state GOP argues that it has been irreparably harmed by the Colorado Supreme Court decision. “The Colorado Supreme Court has removed the leading Republican candidate from the primary and general ballots, fundamentally changing the course of American democracy,” the petition reads.
The filing asserts that unless the state Supreme Court’s decision is overturned, “any voter will have the power to sue to disqualify any political candidate, in Colorado or in any other jurisdiction that follows its lead.”
“This will not only distort the 2024 presidential election but will also mire courts henceforth in political controversies over nebulous accusations of insurrection,” the petition reads.
GOP Says Colorado Supreme Court Exceeded Its Authority
The Colorado Republican Party, in its petition for a writ of certiorari, wrote that the state Supreme Court’s unprecedented decision urgently merits review to prevent “the potential chaos wrought by an imprudent, unconstitutional, and standardless system in which each state gets to adjudicate Section Three disqualification cases on an ad hoc basis.”Lawyers for the Colorado GOP argue that, based on the specific language of the U.S. Constitution and historical context, the president is excluded from the disqualification provision of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because “the President is not an officer of the United States.”
The petition argues that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment isn’t a tool that state courts and others can just use on their own against presidential candidates. Instead, only Congress has the power to enforce the insurrection provision under another section of the amendment.
“Congress alone can enforce Section Three. Indeed, the whole point of the Fourteenth Amendment was to reign in rebellious states. To read Section Three as giving states veto power over presidential candidates would be to turn that amendment upside down,” the petition reads.
The lawyers also point out that President Trump has not been indicted under a criminal statute dealing with insurrection, let alone tried and convicted. He also was not successfully convicted by Congress over charges of inciting an insurrection against the federal government at the U.S. Capitol after being impeached by the House.
The Colorado GOP, in its petition, argues that the state Supreme Court overstepped its authority “by unreasonably restricting the party’s ability to select its candidates.”
“As a natural and inevitable result, the state has interfered with the Party’s ability to place on the general election ballot the candidate of its choice. And it has done so based on a subjective claim of insurrection the state lacks any constitutional authority to make,” the petition reads.
President Trump’s lawyers have also indicated their intention to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
