The Colorado Supreme Court disqualified former President Donald Trump from holding the Presidency under the Constitution's insurrection clause. Under the ruling, which came on December 19, the court also demanded that the secretary of state exclude Trump's name from the state's Republican presidential primary ballot. Considering his role in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, it is the first time a court has found Trump not eligible to return to the White House. Notably, it is also the first time a presidential candidate is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
"President Trump's direct and express efforts over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary," said the 4-3 ruling from the court. The court also said, "Moreover the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power," the court said.
What is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment?
According to the Constitution, "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. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
What is next for Trump?
Although the Colorado Supreme Court issued the ruling that Trump is ineligible to serve as the US President, the court stayed the decision to allow the former President to appeal. Which means the decision is all set for a showdown in the nation's highest court. The ruling is currently stayed until January 4, pending a US Supreme Court review.
What does Trump have to say?
The ruling has already set the US nation's media, new channels and talk shows into overtime trying to establish the implications and consequences of it. Meanwhile, Trump's White House campaign has made public their intentions to appeal the Colorado Court's ruling. The campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the ruling ", undemocratic and completely flawed," and said they will swiftly file an appeal. "We will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision."
