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President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at The Broadmoor World Arena, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Donald Trump can appear on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Colorado next year, a Denver District Court judge ruled Friday in a case with national consequences.
Judge Sarah B. Wallace’s 102-page ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by a liberal political nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. It alleged that Trump’s role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from running for president under the 14th Amendment. The amendment bars people who took an “oath … to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” from holding federal or state office.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in other parts of the country, none of which have been successful.
On Tuesday, Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Redford said deciding whether an event constituted “a rebellion or insurrection and whether or not someone participated in it” are questions best left to Congress and not “one single judicial officer.” A judge, he wrote, “cannot in any manner or form possibly embody the represented qualities of every citizen of the nation — as does the House of Representatives and the Senate.”
Last week, Minnesota’s Supreme Court rejected another effort to block Trump from appearing on Minnesota’s GOP primary ballot next year.
The Colorado lawsuit was brought by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which doesn’t disclose its donors, on behalf of a group of Republican and unaffiliated voters. The defendant is Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat whose office has taken a neutral stance on the case.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
Jesse Paul is a Denver-based political reporter and editor at The Colorado Sun, covering the state legislature, Congress and local politics. He is the author of The Unaffiliated newsletter and also occasionally fills in on breaking news coverage.... More by Jesse Paul
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