While officials in some states have celebrated the Colorado Supreme Court decision seeking to boot former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballot, a majority of attorneys general are petitioning the highest court in the nation to overturn the ruling.
According to reports, GOP state attorneys general from 27 states filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court this week denouncing the 4-3 ruling claiming that the then-president violated the 14th Amendment by aiding an “insurrection” on Capitol Hill just over three years ago.
With voting set to begin later this month, the brief argued that Colorado’s decision “will create widespread chaos” as the primary season heats up.
“Most obviously, it casts confusion into an election cycle that is just weeks away,” the attorneys general wrote. “Beyond that, it upsets the respective roles of the Congress, the States, and the courts.”
On constitutional grounds, the court document insists that voters have the authority to select a candidate, and if lawmakers determine a president to be ineligible, it is their duty to begin the impeachment process.
When such a matter is left to state courts or individual state-level officials, the attorneys general predicted that citizens “will become convinced that a few partisan actors have contrived to take a political decision out of ordinary voters’ hands.”
Citing similar efforts to disqualify Trump, including a recent decision by Maine’s secretary of state, and predicting a protracted legal battle if Colorado’s ruling remains intact, the brief urged the federal high court to “act now to stop all these ‘strange, far-reaching, and injurious results’ from spinning out of control.”
For their part, justices signaled last week that they will weigh in on the matter with arguments set to be made on Feb. 8.
JUST IN: Trump reacts to Supreme Court taking up Colorado case, “All I want is fair. I fought really hard to get 3 very, very good people in. They're great people, very smart people. And I just hope they're going to be fair because you know, the other side plays the ref.” WATCH pic.twitter.com/YCYoZY8h90
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) January 6, 2024
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung predicted that the Supreme Court will ultimately rule in favor of allowing Trump to remain on the ballot in Colorado and elsewhere.
“We are confident that the fair-minded Supreme Court will unanimously affirm the civil rights of President Trump, and the voting rights of all Americans in a ruling that will squash all of the remaining ballot challenge hoaxes once and for all.”
