Colorado Republican Party appeals Trump's election censure to Supreme Court

The request before the highest court suspends the ban until it makes a decision on the president's appearance on the primary election ballots.

Published by

Santiago Ospital

28 de diciembre, 2023

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The Colorado Republican Party, in a fundraising effort to challenge the state Supreme Court's decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the presidential primaries, warns, 'If they can remove Donald Trump from the ballot, they can do the same to any Republican candidate our Party nominates.' Launched shortly after the ruling, the campaign escalated on Wednesday when it appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Justice.

In the absence of SCOTUS ruling, the request has already had, at least, one immediate effect. The Colorado Justice had set January 4 as the effective date of the ban. Until then, the order was suspended and could be appealed. Going to the country's highest court, the state branch of the party extended the suspension until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case and, if so, whether to maintain or suspend the ban. In other words: Trump can get back on the ballot.

The Republican Party argues in its petition that the Presidency is not one of the offices covered by the third section of the Fourteenth Amendment, used to block Trump's candidacy. It also maintains that the ruling violates the party's right to elect its own candidates and that:

Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment is not a self-executing authority for state courts and litigants to use as a sword against presidential candidates.

From the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which filed the petition on behalf of the Colorado GOP, they assured who had also required the court to will act as soon as possible: "The prompt hearing of this case is necessary to prevent the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision from having an irreparable effect on the electoral process."

ACLJ - Donald Trump, Colorado by Santiago Adolfo Ospital on Scribd

One decision, the whole country

From the ACLJ they stressed that their appeal exceeds the imminent electoral process in Colorado:

This is so much more than one primary in one state – this is the greatest election interference case in U.S. history and represents a grave attack on millions of Americans’ fundamental right to vote.

If the Supreme Court decides to take the case, it could resolve or establish keys to resolve the more than 30 attempts - according to an Axios count - to block the candidacy of the former president, using the Fourteenth Amendment, throughout the entire country.

The Colorado GOP's appeal comes the same day that the Michigan Supreme Court dismissed attempts to remove Trump from that state's ballots. Elizabeth Welch, a justice of that court, then pointed out that the differences between the laws of her state and those of Colorado justified the different results. SCOTUS intervention could unify criteria across state lines.