In December, the Colorado Supreme Court barred Trump from the Republican primary. The background was the storming of the Capitol. The US Supreme Court has now rejected this decision.
Former US President Donald Trump can run in Colorado’s Republican primary, according to a US Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court ruled that the deletion of his name from the ballot in the US state was unlawful.
According to the constitution, the states do not have the right to exclude candidates from office at the federal level, it was said. This particularly applies to the presidency.
Colorado court sees insurrection by Trump
At issue is the Colorado Supreme Court’s December ruling that barred Trump from the Republican primary in the state. The court considered it proven that Trump was guilty of insurrection against the USA in connection with the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
It invoked Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Accordingly, no one may hold a higher office in the state who has previously taken part in an uprising against the state as an official. Trump and the Colorado Republican Party appealed.
Judgment was imminent
At the hearing a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court justices listened to arguments from both sides. They appeared skeptical about expelling Trump from the highest office in the state and seemed open to the arguments of Trump’s lawyer.
Trump wants to run again for the Republicans in the US presidential election at the beginning of November. Anyone who wants to run as a presidential candidate must prevail in internal party primaries. Plaintiffs have been trying for some time in various states to prevent Trump from participating in the primaries and to have the 77-year-old’s name removed from ballot papers.
Decision before “Super Tuesday”
Tomorrow, as part of the so-called Super Tuesday, the primaries will take place in more than a dozen states – including Colorado. This may be the reason for the court’s comparatively quick decision. The states of Maine and Illinois also excluded Trump from their primaries. These bans are likely to have become invalid as a result of the ruling.
Trump is in the lead in the Republican primaries by a wide margin and is likely to be chosen as the party’s candidate at the nomination convention in the summer.