Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of former President Trump’s appeal to stay on the ballot in Colorado.
Daines’s amici curiae — or friend-of-the-court — brief is part of a broader Republican backlash against the Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling that Trump violated the Constitution’s insurrection clause, the first time in history it has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
Daines, the chair of the Senate Republican campaign arm, argues the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling “breaches” the Constitution’s “bedrock guarantee of American democracy.”
Daines and the NRSC wrote that they have “a unique and profound interest” in the case because they support and seek to uphold the rights of all American citizens to vote for the candidate of their choice, arguing the Colorado court decision deprives Americans of that right.
They argue that even if Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars Trump from holding office, it does not bar him from appearing on the ballot, and that it is solely the prerogative of Congress to disqualify him from the Oval Office if he wins the election.
“So even if the Colorado Supreme Court were correct that President Trump cannot take office on Inauguration Day, that court has no basis to hold that he cannot run for office on Election Day and also seek removal for any alleged disqualification from Congress if necessary,” they wrote.
Daines announced last month he would file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to reverse the Colorado court’s decision, which he called “a disgrace to our country and our democracy.”
He also donated $5,000 from his leadership political action committee to Trump’s legal defense fund.
Daines is the only elected member of the Senate GOP leadership to have endorsed Trump, but the former president is swiftly racking up endorsements in Congress. This week, the No. 2- and No. 3-ranking members of the House GOP leadership, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (La.) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.), endorsed Trump.
Other Senate Republicans have criticized the Colorado court’s decision, including Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), who is proposing legislation to explicitly give the Supreme Court sole jurisdiction to decide claims of eligibility arising out of section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso (Wyo.), the third-ranking Senate GOP leader, last month blasted the Colorado Supreme Court as “a liberal activist court” and denounced its ruling as a “blatant, political attempt to silence American voters.”
The Senate’s top two Republican leaders — Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Senate GOP Whip John Thune (S.D.) — haven’t commented on the Colorado court’s ruling.
The 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, states that no person shall hold any office in the United States if they, after previously taking an oath to support the Constitution, engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution or gave aid and comfort to its enemies.
Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to keep his name on the ballot in Colorado and other states, such as Maine, where the secretary of state announced last week that Trump would be removed from the primary ballot.
Trump argued in a legal filing that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision will “likely be used as a template to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters nationwide,” noting the Maine secretary of state had already used it as justification “for unlawfully striking” him from that state’s ballot.