The Colorado Republican Party may withdraw from the 2024 presidential primary in protest of the state's Supreme Court saying Donald Trump is disqualified from running for president again for allegedly engaging in an insurrection on January 6.
Dave Williams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said the state could instead have a caucus, instead of an open voting primary process, to decide who Colorado picks as the GOP nomination in 2024 while vowing to appeal the historic ruling.
In a major decision on Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, is disqualified from running for president in 2024 after violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that a person who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after taking an oath of office to support the Constitution should be barred from running for office again.
The Colorado Supreme Court overruled a previous decision via appeal from a lower court judge who was overseeing a lawsuit aiming to bar Trump from running for the White House while citing the 14th Amendment. Judge Sarah B. Wallace previously said that Trump had "engaged in insurrection" on January 6, but should remain on Colorado's primary ballot as the wording of the 14th Amendment does not specifically mention preventing people from running for the presidency.
The decision is the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. Trump's spokesperson Steve Cheung said his team will "swiftly" file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of the "deeply undemocratic" decision.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Williams described the ruling from the Colorado Court to disqualify Trump from the 2024 ballot as "absurd."
"We're going to do whatever we can to protect the rights of voters in Colorado, and frankly, across the nation to choose Donald Trump if they so choose," Williams said.
"We're going to appeal this to the United States Supreme Court. We're a party to the case and we're not going to take this lying down. And if need be, we're going to withdraw from the primary and go to a strict caucus process that would allow our voters to choose Donald Trump if they want."
Williams added that the state not allowing the voters to decide who they want to be the GOP's presidential nomination amounts to "election interference."
"This is un-American what's going on," Williams said. "I don't care if it's a Republican majority Supreme Court in the United States or if it's a Democrat majority here in Colorado, we don't feel that this is the right thing to do. If we truly care about one man one vote and protecting our rights [...] let the people decide. Don't take away our vote."
Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.
In their historic decision to disqualify Trump from running for president again, the Colorado Supreme Court said they did not arrive at the ruling "lightly."
"We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us," the court opinion said. "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."
In a statement, Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for Trump's Make America Great Again Inc. Super PAC, said the ruling was "much more than a political attack on President Donald Trump—it's an attack on the Republican Party and an attack on the very fabric of America."
"Everyone, including the Republicans running against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, and even President Joe Biden, must speak out swiftly against this unconstitutional ruling and stand for fair and honest elections," Leavitt said.
A number of other GOP figures have come to the defense of Trump in the wake of the court's decision, including the former president's rivals in the 2024 GOP primary.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the most openly vocal Trump critic in the primary, said that Trump should not be prevented from being president by "any court" but from the voters.
"This is probably premature and jumping ahead of it, and I think it would cause a lot of anger in this country if people had the choice taken away from them," Christie said at a campaign event on Tuesday.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said she wants the voters to allow her to beat Trump "fair and square" in the primary. "We don't need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions," she said.
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
