The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot, and fellow GOP candidates came to his defense.
In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court determined that Trump is ineligible to run for office under a provision of the 14th Amendment that bars individuals who have participated in insurrection.
“We conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three (of the 14th Amendment), 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,” the court’s majority wrote in its opinion. “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.”
Read: Colorado Supreme Court Disqualifies Trump From Being On State’s Ballot, 14th Amendment
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took to X, formally Twitter, to denounce the decision.
“The Left invokes “democracy” to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on X.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted, “This is what an *actual* attack on democracy looks like: in an un-American, unconstitutional, and *unprecedented* decision, a cabal of Democrat judges are barring Trump from the ballot in Colorado. Having tried every trick in the book to eliminate President Trump from running in this election, the bipartisan Establishment is now deploying a new tactic to bar him from ever holding office again: the 14th Amendment. I pledge to *withdraw* from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is also allowed to be on the state’s ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley to do the same immediately – or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country.”
Republican officeholders also blasted the ruling.
“Removing Trump from the ballot in Colorado under this theory is spurious, likely unconstitutional, & a sadly predictable, but outrageous form of lawfare,” Republican Rep Chip Roy of Texas posted. “SCOTUS should end this.”
“The state of Colorado just removed Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. An effort led by four Democrats. The very same Democrats who scream about “DEMOCRACY,” just took an open flame to the very concept,” Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas posted. “If Donald Trump is so unpopular with the American people, then why are we witnessing unprecedented election interference to stop him from winning next year?”
“The Democrats and 4 Colorado judges just stole the election away from the people of Colorado and robbed them of their right to vote for President Trump,” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted. “This is an unprecedented First amendment violation that must be struck down by the SCOTUS. This can not be allowed to stand.”
“The U.S. has put sanctions on other countries for doing exactly what the Colorado Supreme Court has done today,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida posted.
“If this happened in Russia or China, there would be bipartisan condemnation,” Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio tweeted.
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