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Former US President Donald Trump’s attorneys asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn a Colorado court’s recent decision to remove him from the state’s Republican primary ballot.
“This is an unAmerican, unconstitutional act of election interference which cannot stand. We urge a clear, summary rejection of the Colorado Supreme Court’s wrongful ruling and the execution of a free and fair election this November,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement.
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Trump’s legal team filed a separate appeal on Tuesday over a similar ruling in Maine.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in December that Trump’s actions leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol as Congress counted electoral votes disqualified him from becoming president again under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, making him ineligible to appear on the state’s presidential primary ballot.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” read the decision. “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 favour, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”
The decision was stayed until January 4 to give the US Supreme Court time to review the case.
In the Wednesday appeal, Trump’s lawyers argue the Colorado Supreme Court does not have authority to determine presidential eligibility. They also claimed the Capitol attack does not qualify as an insurrection.
“In the context of the history of violent American political protests, January 6 was not insurrection and thus no justification for invoking section 3 [of the 14th Amendment],” reads the filing.
Trump’s appeal comes one day after the group of Colorado voters who sued to keep the former president off the ballot asked the high court to quickly weigh in on the matter.
“This case is of utmost national importance,” the group said in a Tuesday filing.
The Colorado Republican Party has also requested that the US Supreme Court review the case.
Shortly after the Trump campaign appealed, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold urged the high court to “consider this case as quickly as possible.” Griswold has received dozens of death threats due to the effort to keep Trump off the ballot in her state.
Colorado’s Republican primary election is on March 5. Trump is the clear Republican front-runner, polling more than 40 percentage points ahead of opponents, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, despite facing four indictments, including two related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The former president had previously criticised the Colorado court’s ruling, insisting he’s “not an insurrectionist.” His campaign also called the decision “deeply undemocratic” and the result of a “Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme,” a reference to George Soros, a major donor to progressive causes.