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Trump Is Back on Colorado’s Primary Ballot—for Now

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold still thinks the former president is ineligible to run, she said in a statement issued Thursday.

As Donald Trump faces a quartet of indictments on top of a civil fraud trial that could strip him of his businesses, the embattled former president is back on the ballot in Colorado.

The Colorado Republican Party on Wednesday appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 ruling that “found by clear and convincing evidence that President Trump engaged in insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, thus declaring him ineligible to hold office under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause. Trump would be stricken from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot, the court ruled, simultaneously staying the decision until Jan. 4 in the event of a GOP appeal.

In their appeal, Republican Party lawyers argued that the Colorado Supreme Court showed “unprecedented disregard” for the First Amendment rights of political parties and voters to pick a candidate of their choosing.

On Thursday, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office issued a statement, saying, “With the appeal filed, Donald Trump will be included as a candidate on Colorado’s 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot when certification occurs on January 5, 2024, unless the U.S. Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.”

In a comment provided by her spokesman, Griswold emphasized her support for the original ban, a 4-3 ruling, to stand.

“Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified under the Constitution from the Colorado Ballot,” Griswold said. “The Colorado Supreme Court got it right. This decision is now being appealed. I urge the U.S. Supreme Court to act quickly given the upcoming presidential primary election.”

Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment was added following the Civil War, and was intended to block members of the Confederacy from returning to power. Legal theorists have been split on whether or not Trump should be disqualified, hinging primarily on whether or not he was “an officer of the United States” while serving as president. The U.S. Supreme Court has never before ruled on the issue.

Multiple efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot in numerous states have been playing out in recent months. On Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court decided to allow Trump’s name to appear on the state’s primary ballot. Trump has decried the attempts to block him from running as a “pathetic gambit” to rig the election.

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Justin RohrlichReporter

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