Colorado’s highest court ruled Tuesday to disqualify Trump from appearing on the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He’s removed under the 14th Amendment, which bars certain individuals who’ve sworn an oath to the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office. Colorado’s Supreme Court determines the clause applies to presidents, reversing a trial judge’s finding that the 14th Amendment does not apply to the presidency.
The decision makes the Centennial State the first to block Trump from seeking a return to the Oval Office next year — with similar efforts pending in several other states.
It’s the latest legal complication for the former president, who is campaigning for the presidency as he faces four criminal indictments.
Trump’s campaign swiftly said it plans to appeal to the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court, and he moved to fundraise off the removal.
Trump and his allies are casting the Colorado ruling as a political attack against him — branding he’s consistently used to respond to his indictments and lawsuits this year.
“I will not let left-wing judges STEAL the votes of a MAJORITY of Americans,” Trump said in an email to supporters.
The new discord comes just four weeks out from the Iowa caucuses, which kick off the GOP’s presidential nominating cycle. Trump is still leading the rest of his party in the primary heading into the early states, even as he’s beleaguered by his legal battles.
The Hill’s Caroline Vakil and Brett Samuels delve into how the Colorado ruling roils the 2024 race, here.
The Colorado decision puts Trump’s Republican rivals in a potentially awkward position in the final stretch before Iowa, forcing them to come to the defense of the candidate they’re trying to beat.
“The idea that judges are going to take it upon themselves to decide who can and can’t be on the ballot is truly unthinkable,” Haley said in an interview with Fox News’s Martha MacCallum.
She argued that she should win the presidency over Trump, but that “we should have this race fair and square with him on the ballot.”
Ron DeSantis — whose political machine is dealing with turnover and reported turmoil — called on the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, while also arguing that the Colorado move was part of a Democratic effort to get Trump to the GOP nomination and thereby give President Biden “the ability to skate through this thing.”
Republican observers note that the Colorado case is now sucking up oxygen along the campaign trail in the last few weeks before Iowa, potentially making it more difficult for Haley and DeSantis to build support for their own bids.
“The timing of the decision isn’t ideal for them — no candidate wants to be in the position of defending their opponent only weeks before an election,” Iowa-based Republican strategist Michael Zona told The Hill.
Read more from The Hill’s Julia Mueller and Jared Gans on how the latest Trump development could blunt Haley’s momentum.
