PHOTO: The Colorado Supreme Court building in downtown Denver on July 7, 2021. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)
This story by Lindsey Toomer appeared on Colorado Newsline on November 24, 2023.
The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to consider appeals in a case over whether former President Donald Trump should be barred from the state’s 2024 primary ballot. The Denver-based court Tuesday scheduled oral argument for December 6.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed by six Colorado voters who argue that Trump is disqualified from office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment due to his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Both parties appealed a Denver District Court decision from earlier this month that said Trump should be placed on Colorado’s March presidential primary ballot.
Although Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled that Trump “engaged in insurrection” within the meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which prohibits a person who did so after taking an oath to support the Constitution from holding office again — she held that the clause does not apply to the presidency.
Each side will have one hour to present its oral argument starting at 1pm on December 6 in the Supreme Court courtroom.
Trump’s team appealed with the hope that a higher court will reverse Wallace’s finding, among other points of her decision it disagrees with, that the Republican presidential frontrunner engaged in insurrection, despite her ordering that his name appear on the ballot.
The plaintiffs, on the other hand, want to see the ruling that Section 3 does not apply to the presidency reversed.
Read more Colorado Newsline reporting on the Trump 14th Amendment trial here.