Donald Trump risks being knocked out of election by key decision as hopes in jeopardy
EXCLUSIVE: The Colorado Supreme Court will be hearing a case seeking to use the Constitution's insurrection clause to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot.
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Donald Trump faces the prospect of being knocked out of the 2024 presidential election because of a rarely-used Constitutional provision.
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear appeals from both a liberal group that sought to disqualify the former president and Trump himself after a state judge said Trump "engaged in insurrection” on January 6, 2021.
District Court Judge Sarah Wallace said Trump is not covered by the Constitution’s ban on insurrectionists holding office — the latest in a series of defeats for the effort to end Trump's candidacy with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The constitutional provision has only been used a handful of times since the years after the Civil War. It was created to prevent former Confederates from returning to government positions.
Professor Inderjeet Parmar, an international politics expert, argued the final decision of Colorado's Supreme Court could cost Trump pivotal electoral college votes.
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He told Daily Express US a U-turn of Wallace's original ruling could have "devastating" consequences for his 2024 presidential election chances.
Prof. Parmar said: "If Colorado sets a trend, Trump loses key electoral college votes that would likely deny him the White House— presidential elections are decided on a handful of votes in a handful of swing states, after all.
"The worst case for Trump could be devastating to his election chances, knocking him out of the race to be the GOP nominee, let alone to compete in the 2024 presidential election."
The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filing on behalf of a group of Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters, argued that Wallace was wrong in ruling that it's not clear the provision was intended to apply to presidents.
The section prevents those who took an oath to support the Constitution from serving in Congress, the Electoral College "or as an officer of the United States."
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The City Academic continued: "If the Colorado Supreme Court excludes Trump from the ballot by agreeing with the lower court ruling that he is an insurrectionist and that he should therefore be disallowed from running for elected public office, the case will likely go further up to the US Supreme Court.
"Should the US Supreme Court rule that Trump did engage in insurrection and be barred from running for public office, it would likely lead to his complete exclusion from the 2024 presidential election."
Trump, meanwhile, appealed Wallace's finding that he did engage in insurrection and questioned whether a state court judge like her, rather than Congress, should settle the issue.
The case will be heard by the seven justices of the state court, all of whom were appointed by Democrats.
Colorado officials have urged a final decision by January 5, 2024, when they must finalize their primary ballot.
The next step after Colorado's high court would be the US Supreme Court, which has never ruled on Section 3.
Trump has slammed the lawsuits as “election interference.”
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