Former US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overrule a ruling by Colorado’s highest judicial body barring him from participating in the state’s presidential primaries.
Trump’s lawyers challenged a similar decision by the state’s interior secretary against the former president before a Maine judge.
The two states deemed Trump ‘unfit to hold the office of president’ because of his stance during the attack on the Capitol by a crowd of his supporters on January 6, 2021.
Trump’s lawyers had asked the US Supreme Court, composed of 9 judges, 3 of whom were appointed by Trump himself, to review the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision against their client and declare it invalid.
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court in the state of Colorado (west) ruled that Trump was ineligible to assume the presidency because he had engaged in a riot on January 6, 2021, when a crowd of his supporters stormed the Congressional headquarters.
The former president’s lawyers asked the US Supreme Court, composed of 9 justices, 3 of whom were appointed by Trump himself, to take into account the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision against their client and declare it invalid.
The decision is based on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits people who have previously sworn allegiance to the US Constitution from holding any elected office if they violate their oath by participating in a rebellion.
“If this decision is not overturned, it will be the first time in US history that the judicial system will prevent voters from voting for the main candidate of a major party in a presidential election,” Trump’s lawyers said.
Eligibility to assume the office of President of the United States is a matter for Congress alone to consider and decide, not a state court, the lawyers said.
As in Maine, the Colorado Supreme Court based its decision to disqualify Trump from the election on Article 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from confirming Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
In August, the federal judiciary and the Georgia state judiciary were indicted against the former president for trying to change the outcome of the 2020 elections.
Two historic decisions by Maine and Colorado are currently relevant to the Republican Party primaries scheduled for March 5 in those two states.
None of these decisions will enter into force until all appeal procedures have been completed.
Lawsuits have been filed in several states to block Trump, who is the most likely candidate to win the Republican nomination in the presidential elections later this year.
