House Republican calls Colorado ruling the ‘worst case of judicial activism I’ve ever seen’

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) slammed the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to kick former President Trump off the state’s primary ballot, characterizing the ruling as the “worst case of judicial activism I’ve ever seen.”

“This is the worst case of judicial activism that I’ve ever seen,” Rosendale said in a new interview on the Fox Business Channel on Thursday. “It truly is to strip President Trump’s right to participate in the elections going forward.”

Rosendale took his displeasure with the ruling a step further, saying it would cause people to lose confidence in government.

“This is the kind of activity that gives everyone across the nation a distrust of government and … they lose confidence in all of our institutions”

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., and members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus denounce the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process as they decry so-called “woke” spending by Democrats and President Joe Biden, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Colorado’s highest court ruled in favor of removing Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot under the 14th amendment in a landmark 4-3 ruling Tuesday.

Colorado’s ruling made the Centennial State the first to remove Trump from its primary ballot due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which has ignited a debate among politicians and legal scholars, who now await an inevitable review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ruling reversed a lower court’s decision to keep Trump on the ballot, but it has been put on hold by the court until Jan. 4 so Trump can file a likely appeal.

Rosendale criticized President Biden’s response to the ruling, in which Biden said Trump engaged in an insurrection, by citing Republicans’ investigation into the president’s family, whom the Montana representative referred to as “the Biden crime family.”

Biden responded to the ruling Wednesday, saying there is “no question” Trump supported an insurrection, but he declined to comment directly on whether the former president should be removed from the state’s ballot.

As part of his condemnation of Biden’s comments, Rosendale said he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“I was there on January the 6th, it was a protest,” Rosendale said. “There’s been a lot of people jailed and locked up, they were overcharged. They were there simply to voice their opinions.”

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More coverage from The Hill

• Moderate Dem says it ‘makes sense’ to leave Trump ballot question to courts
• Trump’s legal woes thrust Supreme Court into 2024 chaos 
• What the Colorado Trump ruling means for 2024
• Trump: ‘I’m not an insurrectionist’

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Rosendale doubled down on his dismay at the ruling and said that protests are warranted.

“Every citizen across Colorado should be protesting, and every one of the primary candidates for president should also protest this by not participating in the Colorado elections,” he said.

In November, District Judge Sarah Wallace agreed with the plaintiffs that Trump “incited” the attack and could be disqualified using the 14th Amendment, but she ultimately ruled he could remain on the ballot because the amendment’s wording did not apply specifically to the office of president.

But Colorado’s highest court ultimately disagreed with Wallace’s assessment, writing in the majority opinion that Trump engaged in insurrection and that the amendment’s insurrection clause applies to the nation’s highest office.

The insurrection clause lists those who previously took oaths to support the Constitution as “a member of Congress,” “officer of the United States,” “member of any State legislature” or an “executive or judicial officer of any State.”