The decision of the Colorado Supreme Court to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot reached a decisive point this Wednesday when the former president’s legal team took the case to the highest court in the country to appeal the controversial ruling.
Now, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will have the final say on whether Colorado’s lower court is ultimately allowed to bar the former president from participating in the Republican primary under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which emphasizes that a candidate cannot run for public office after participating in an “insurrection” against the country after being under oath.
However, for Trump’s lawyers, the unprecedented ruling is incorrect.
The 34-page motion filed Wednesday and led by attorneys Scott Gessler and Harmeet Dhillon says that “[i]n our system of ‘government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,’ Colorado’s ruling is not and cannot be correct.”
Trump lawyers appeal Colorado election ruling to Supreme Court by emmanuel.rondon on Scribd
Among other issues, Trump’s legal team argued that the Colorado Supreme Court bypassed the United States Congress.
“The question of eligibility to serve as President of the United States is properly reserved for Congress, not the state courts, to consider and decide,” the document reads. “By considering the question of President Trump’s eligibility and barring him from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court arrogated Congress’ authority.”
The state court ruling was very close, with four justices in favor of depriving Trump of being certified on January 5 for the primary elections. Three judges voted against it.
It is the first time in United States history that a former president has been removed from the ballot based on the 14th Amendment. Other states, such as Michigan, ruled that Trump can participate in the electoral race, ruling against cases similar to that of Colorado.
The Amendment says: “No person shall ... hold any office, civil or military, under the United States ... who, having previously taken an oath ... as an officer of the United States ... 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.”
The Colorado Republican Party, like Trump’s legal team, also appealed the state court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, stating that what happened on January 6 at the Capitol was not an insurrection and that Trump’s participation in these events is a subjective assessment.
The party also stated that the suspension of the former president caused tremendous damage to the GOP and asked the country’s highest judicial body to reverse the ruling, which, for the moment, is suspended until SCOTUS makes a final and historic decision.
