Former President Donald Trump’s name was temporarily removed from the upcoming March Republican primary ballot by the Democrat-controlled Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The final decision on whether Trump can appear on the ballot will head to the U.S. Supreme Court — an unprecedented court case that will decide whether the leading Republican presidential candidate will be a choice presented to Centennial State voters.
In response, the Colorado Republican Party threatened to cancel the GOP primary altogether if the leading presidential candidate is unavailable to Centennial State voters.
“We will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand,” the Colorado Republican Party said in a statement after the court’s ruling.
The court said the ruling, a narrow 4-3 split, will be placed on hold until January 4 pending an appeal.
“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the court announced in its ruling Tuesday. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
The court ruled there was “little difficulty concluding that substantial evidence” was available that showed the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was “a concerted and public use of force or threat of force by a group of people to hinder or prevent the U.S. government from taking the actions necessary to accomplish the peaceful transfer of power in this country.”
The Colorado Supreme Court’s majority ruled that “the events of January 6 constituted an insurrection” and that Trump is legally disqualified from holding the Oval Office.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly. We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach,” the court said in their ruling.
Conservative lawmakers and Republican leaders swiftly condemned the court’s ruling.
“This ruling, issued by the Colorado Supreme Court, attacks the very heart of this nation’s democracy. It will not stand, and we trust that the Supreme Court will reverse this unconstitutional order,” Alina Habba, a legal spokeswoman for Trump, said in a statement.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-L.A., issued a statement condemning the Colorado ruling as “a thinly veiled partisan attack.”
Today’s ruling attempting to disqualify President Trump from the Colorado ballot is nothing but a thinly veiled partisan attack.
Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen registered to vote should not be denied the right to support our former president and the… https://t.co/yMm4wTb1K8— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 20, 2023
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in various states trying to disqualify Trump from the White House. Colorado is the first state where the lawsuit has succeeded — at least temporarily.
The Associated Press and The Horn editorial team contributed to this article.