Former US President Trump is fighting a court decision that disqualified him for his role in the storming of the US Capitol. Now the Supreme Court will decide on Trump’s approval in the primary election.
Former US President Donald Trump has appealed his exclusion from the Republican primary in the state of Colorado. The US Supreme Court will consider it and decide whether a 155-year-old amendment to the Constitution can be applied to Trump’s candidacy.
According to Section Three of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a person may not run for federal office if he or she has participated in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or has aided or encouraged those who have done so.
On this basis, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that Trump’s role in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 disqualified him from the election. Trump, who would like to become US president again, was also excluded from the primaries in Maine. He had already filed an appeal against this on Tuesday. Both decisions are on hold until the appeals are decided. Until then, Trump’s name will continue to be on the ballot.
Both sides demand a quick decision
“The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision would unconstitutionally disenfranchise millions of voters in Colorado and likely serve as a template to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters nationwide,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their filing, noting that Maine has already followed Colorado’s lead.
Both Trump’s lawyers and those of the opposing side have called on the court to decide quickly. Colorado’s primary election is March 5.
Critics of Trump have filed dozens of lawsuits to try to exclude him from the election in several states. Except for the one in Colorado, none of them were successful. Some observers warned that the Colorado court could not simply define the storming of the Capitol as an insurrection without there being a proper procedure.
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It was expected that the sensitive political issue would ultimately end up before the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court could theoretically dismiss the question. However, legal experts expect the court to take up the matter in order to avoid legal chaos in an election year.
The background to the dispute is the unprecedented attack on the US parliament building almost exactly three years ago: Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Congress met there to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump had previously incited his supporters in a speech with lies that the election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud. As a result of the riots, five people died. Trump faces charges of attempted election fraud for his actions surrounding the vote.