A former U.S. Supreme Court law clerk claimed Wednesday that the high court will likely rule against the Colorado Supreme Court decision to bar former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s 2024 ballots.
Earlier this week, the Colorado high court ruled that the former president is disqualified from being on the ballot in the state because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. The 4–3 ruling, which is based on a reading of a provision in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, is likely to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court, some analysts have noted.
The ruling applies only to Colorado’s March 5 Republican primary but it could affect President Trump’s status in the state for the Nov. 5 general election. Nonpartisan U.S. election forecasters view Colorado as safe for Democrats, meaning that President Joe Biden will likely carry the state regardless of President Trump’s fate there.
Chris Landau, a former law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia, said the Colorado ruling is “lawfare” and was one of “the most antidemocratic decisions we have seen in American history—that four unelected judges on a state Supreme Court have taken it upon themselves to disqualify someone who otherwise meets all the qualifications of the Constitution.”
Speaking to Fox News this week, Mr. Landau said he is confident that the U.S. high court will overturn the Colorado Supreme Court ruling after “[taking] one look at it.”
“It is terrifying to me as an American that this kind of lawfare is being waged, that courts are so presumptuous that they think it’s up to them to decide who can be on the ballot to let democracy work,” he added, saying that a judge’s opinions should not result in landmark rulings such as this.
“Why are these people so terrified that they’re bending all the rules to get Trump off the ballot? Let the people vote,” he stated.
The Colorado majority of justices—all Democratic—concluded that the U.S. Constitution bars President Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024, from appearing on the ballot because of the Jan. 6 incident as lawmakers met to certify the results of the 2020 election. The court’s majority acknowledged the decision was “uncharted territory.”
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the majority justices wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
The case was brought by a group of Colorado voters, aided by the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), who argued that President Trump should be disqualified because, according to the group, he was trying obstruct the transfer of presidential power to President Biden after the 2020 election on Jan. 6.
President Trump’s campaign called the court decision “undemocratic.”
“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court,” a spokesperson from the Trump campaign said.
Three Colorado Supreme Court justices dissented in the ruling. One of those who dissented, Justice Carlos Samour, wrote that the lawsuit deprives the former president of his right to due process. He noted that no jury has convicted him of insurrection and he wasn’t charged with the crime.
“Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past—dare I say, engaged in insurrection—there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office,” he wrote.
Trump Poll Numbers?
After the former president was indicted four separate times earlier this year, some analysts have noted that his poll numbers have only risen.One pollster, Frank Luntz, said this week that it’s likely the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision will only strengthen his support.
