A divided Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that former President Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection with his behavior surrounding the 2020 election and removed his name from the state’s primary ballots next year, setting up a showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 4-3 decision is the first major ruling on the question to go against Mr. Trump, and his campaign vowed an immediate appeal to the high court in Washington, expressing confidence the “flawed decision” will be overturned. The state court stayed its ruling until Jan. 4 in anticipation of an appeal.
The Colorado justices acknowledged they were breaking new legal ground and even stayed their ruling until early next year to give time for the appeals process to play out. But they said their reading of the U.S. Constitution does indicate Mr. Trump was part of an insurrection that saw a mob delay counting of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
They ruled that he is disqualified from holding the presidency under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly. We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. 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,” the majority said in an unsigned opinion.
Justice Carlos Samour Jr. wrote a withering dissent, calling the process used to deny Mr. Trump a place on the ballot a “procedural Frankenstein” that twisted the Constitution and abused the former president’s rights.
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“I have been involved in the justice system for thirty-three years now, and what took place here doesn’t resemble anything I’ve seen in a courtroom,” he said of the lower court proceedings.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Mr. Trump will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court swiftly to overturn the “deeply undemocratic decision.”
“Unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Mr. Cheung said. “Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls. They have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November.”
Republican allies of Mr. Trump in Congress also slammed the ruling. Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, called the ruling “nothing but a thinly veiled partisan attack.”
“Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen registered to vote should not be denied the right to support our former president and the individual who is the leader in every poll of the Republican primary,” Mr. Johnson said. “We trust the U.S. Supreme Court will set aside this reckless decision and let the American people decide the next President of the United States.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican, called it “unAmerican.”
“Democrats are so afraid that President Trump will win on Nov 5th 2024 that they are illegally attempting to take him off the ballot,” she posted on social media. “Like the rest of the unprecedented, constant, and illegal election interference against President Trump, this will backfire and further strengthen President Trump’s winning campaign to Save America.”
Mr. Trump lost Colorado in 2020 to President Biden by a wide margin, 55% to 42%. Colorado’s presidential primary is scheduled for March 5, Super Tuesday.
A group of GOP voters and independents brought the case under a state election law governing who may appear on the ballot.
The case turned on several key questions, including whether Mr. Trump “engaged” in an “insurrection” as envisioned by the Civil War-era 14th Amendment, and whether that provision applied to a president.
In the lower court proceeding, Judge Sarah Wallace, a Democrat appointee, ruled that Mr. Trump did incite violence and an insurrection intentionally on Jan. 6 — but she said the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment did not apply to the office of the presidency.
The state Supreme Court majority on Tuesday said she was right about the insurrection but wrong about the reach of the 14th Amendment.
Though Mr. Trump is facing several indictments, he has not been charged or convicted of leading an insurrection during the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Colorado justices in their majority ruling said the district court’s findings were still good enough to trigger the ban.
Dissenting justices disagreed, saying even if a former president could be barred under the law, the proceedings were far short of what should be required for fairness.
The Colorado case is one of several working their way through state courts.
Those hoping to remove Mr. Trump from state ballots point to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
The provision was written into the 14th Amendment with the Civil War in mind, but the former president’s opponents say it should apply to his attempts to stop certification of President Biden’s victory.
Rep. Ted Lieu, California Democrat, said he was pleased with the ruling.
“As an impeachment manager, it was very clear to me that the evidence showed Trump called for and incited the mob on January 6,” he wrote on X.
Courts in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Florida, Arizona, and Michigan have moved to keep Mr. Trump on the ballot, as has the state of New Hampshire, despite critics claiming Mr. Trump is disqualified.
The unprecedented nature of the case has only deepened divisions.
Justice Samour said Colorado has particular rules governing challenges to a person’s place on a ballot, but not every state has such rules.
If the state decision stands, it would mean Mr. Trump would be denied from some ballots but not others, “risking chaos in our country.”
“This can’t possibly be the outcome the framers intended,” he wrote.
Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, announced Tuesday evening that he will introduce legislation to clarify that the U.S. Supreme Court gets final say in questions concerning the Insurrection Clause.
“Regardless of whether you support or oppose former President Donald Trump, it is outrageous to see left-wing activists make a mockery of our political system by scheming with partisan state officials and pressuring judges to remove him from the ballot,” he said.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.