
Attorneys for Donald Trump on Wednesday filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court ruling disqualifying him from the state’s primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, CBS News reported.
While the Colorado high court deemed Trump ineligible to appear on the ballot, it also put its decision on hold until the Supreme Court weighed in on the matter, ensuring that the former president’s name would remain on the March 5 GOP primary ballot in the meantime.
In its January 3 request to the Supreme Court, Trump’s legal team argued that it was up to Congress and not state courts to decide the question of eligibility and therefore, the Colorado Supreme Court did not have the authority to remove Trump’s name from the ballot.
The appeal from Donald Trump comes a week after the Colorado Republican Party filed a separate appeal to the Supreme Court.
Following the state party’s appeal, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold confirmed that Donald Trump’s name would remain on the March 5 primary ballot unless the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s ruling or refuses to take up the case.
To date, the US Supreme Court has never ruled on the provision of the 14th Amendment barring sworn office-holders who engage in insurrection from seeking office again.
In its December ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court said that the provision applied to Trump due to his role in the January 6 riot at the Capitol and ordered that his name be removed from the primary ballot and, if Trump becomes the GOP nominee, from the general election ballot in Colorado.
Both the Colorado GOP and Donald Trump have asked the Supreme Court to move swiftly on the appeal, according to the Associated Press.
Attorneys for the former president requested that the High Court issue its decision without oral arguments while attorneys for the state party requested an accelerated schedule but urged for oral arguments in the case.