The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump’s name cannot appear on the ballots for the Republican primary election in the state, held on ‘Super Tuesday,’ 5 March 2024. The ruling declared that the former POTUS had engaged in an ‘insurrection against the United States,’ and thus is ineligible to run for state or federal office as per the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
The decision pertains to President Trump’s alleged conduct during the 2021 Capitol riot.
Back in October, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case for removing Trump from the ballots, determining that it lacked enough legal merit. However, with the recent development, the nine justices may get the chance to opine on the matter after all, as the Trump campaign made a statement that they would appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
The decision was a narrow, 4–3 split among the Colorado judges. Presumably, it only applies to the 5 March primary, as it makes no mention of the general election in November. Also, it only takes effect on 4 January 2024, the deadline when the ballots for the primary election need to be printed. Similar legal challenges in the states of New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Michigan have been rejected by the local courts.
As we wrote earlier, the above-cited section of the 14th Amendment (the second anti-slavery amendment) was put in place to prevent former Confederate leaders from getting back into power in Southern states—and was not effective in doing that, as some of the rebels did end up winning elections and serving in public offices after all.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó of Hungary has also weighed in on the controversial decision. In a post on his Facebook page, he wrote:
‘The Colorado Supreme Court has disqualified Donald Trump from the presidential race.
Let's play with the idea:
if something similar were to happen in a patriotic government in a Central European country, how long would it take for the European Parliament to declare the death of democracy there?
How fast would the US State Department issue a condemnatory statement, how fast would the European Commission freeze even more EU funds that have not been allocated, and how fast would the global liberal media network run editorials proclaiming the destruction of the rule of law on every surface? And now what? Silence. But not because of Advent…’
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary has voiced his preference for former President Trump over incumbent President Joe Biden in the 2024 US presidential election multiple times before.
Also something to consider: the last time a major political party’s candidate was not put on the ballot in some states in an American presidential election was 1860. The slave-holding Southern states refused to let Republican Abraham Lincoln’s name appear on their ballots because of the abolitionist elements of his—at the time—new party. Lincoln still ended up winning the election, which directly led to 11 Southern states seceding from the Union, and the consequent American Civil War...
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