New Delhi: Donald Trump is ineligible to serve as US president because of his actions inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, Colorado’s highest court found, in an unprecedented ruling that’s headed for the US Supreme Court.
Colorado’s Supreme Court issued the ruling Tuesday, barring Trump from the state’s primary ballot, but stayed the decision to allow the former president to appeal, which his campaign said he plans to do. He has until Jan. 4, under the state court’s ruling. The ruling was the first to say that Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results render him ineligible to run again under a post-Civil War-era provision of the US Constitution that bans insurrectionists from holding public office, Bloomberg reported.
“President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary,” according to the 4-3 ruling from the court. All seven justices were appointed by Democratic governors.
“Moreover, the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power,” the court said.
In addition to his appeal, Trump plans to seek a stay preventing the ruling from taking effect, according to a statement from his campaign. The pause could extend past Jan. 4, depending on when the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case. The court directed Colorado’s Secretary of State to keep Trump’s name on the presidential primary ballot until the matter is decided by the US Supreme Court.
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