Donald Trump’s Republican opponents bashed the Colorado Supreme Court’s bombshell decision to bar the former president from appearing on the state’s primary ballot in March.
The court on Tuesday found Trump, 77, ineligible to hold the country’s highest office for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters — citing the rarely used “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment.
Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to withdraw his name from the state’s ballot until Trump is allowed back on it.
“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley to do the same immediately – or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” the 38-year-old entrepreneur said in a statement.
“Today’s decision is the latest election interference tactic to silence political opponents and swing the election for whatever puppet the Democrats put up this time by depriving Americans of the right to vote for their candidate of choice,” the longshot added.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told voters at an event in New Hampshire that Trump should not be barred from appearing on the ballot since he has not been convicted of engaging in an insurrection.
“I do not believe Donald Trump should be prevented from being president of the United States by any court,” Christie said. “I think he should be prevented from being president of the United States by the voters in our country.”
“On the principle, I don’t believe a court should exclude somebody from running for president without there being a trial and evidence that’s accepted by a jury that [shows] they did participate in an insurrection,” he added.
“I think it would cause a lot of anger in this country if people had the choice taken away from them,” Christie warned.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tweeted: “The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse.”
The Post has reached out to Nikki Haley’s campaign for comment on the historical court ruling.
Tuesday’s 4-3 decision is the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. The clause, which bans officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding office, dates back from the Reconstruction era to keep former Confederates out of Congress.
The ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 — or until the US Supreme Court makes a ruling on the case.
Trump’s campaign slammed the court for “eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice” and said they plan to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court and “a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision.”
The ruling sets the stage for the US Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees, to decide whether Trump is eligible to serve another term as president.
“We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us,” the Colorado majority wrote. “We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”