The Colorado Supreme Court is removing former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot, saying he is ineligible to be president.

In a stunning and unprecedented decision, the Colorado Supreme Court removed former President Donald Trump from the stateā€™s 2024 ballot, ruling that he isnā€™t an eligible presidential candidate because of the 14th Amendmentā€™s ā€œinsurrectionist ban.ā€

ā€œEven when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President (Mike) Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes.

ā€œPresident Trumpā€™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.ā€

Ratified after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment says officials who take an oath to support the Constitution are banned from future office if they ā€œengaged in insurrection.ā€ But the wording is vague, it doesnā€™t explicitly mention the presidency, and has only been applied twice since 1919.

We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits,ā€ Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Chief Justice Brian Boatright, one of the three dissenters on the seven-member court, wrote that he believes Colorado election law ā€œwas not enacted to decide whether a candidate engaged in insurrection,ā€ and said he would have dismissed the challenge to Trumpā€™s eligibility.

LINKS

AP: Colorado Supreme Court bans Trump from the stateā€™s ballot under Constitutionā€™s insurrection clause | @negativenull@startrek.website

Washington Post: Donald Trump is barred from Coloradoā€™s 2024 primary ballot, the state Supreme Court rules | @silence7@slrpnk.net

CNBC: Colorado Supreme Court disqualifies Trump from 2024 ballot, pauses ruling to allow appeal | @return2ozma

NBC News: Colorado Supreme Court kicks Donald Trump off the stateā€™s 2024 ballot for violating the U.S. Constitution. | 18-24-61-B-17-17-4

CNN: Colorado Supreme Court removes Trump from 2024 ballot | A Phlaming Phoenix

CNN:Colorado Supreme Court removes Trump from 2024 ballot based on 14th Amendmentā€™s ā€˜insurrectionist banā€™ | @Boddhisatva

New York Times: Trump Is Disqualified From the 2024 Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules | @silence7@slrpnk.net

  • FishFace@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Presumably self-execution is not that relevant here, since in every state there will be people with enough will and lawyers to take it to court?

    • lgstarn@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      Self-enforcing (edit: actually self-executing is the proper legal term) here means that the constitutional amendment doesnā€™t require a separate act of Congress. The opinion addresses this and says if the 14th Amendment wasnā€™t self enforcing (edit: executing), some absurd results would ensue. One would be slavery would still be legal.

      • This was rhe same argument with regard to the Fourth Amendment, that it would be absurd if it were not self executing; that every court must evaluate cases before it with regard to the Fourth Amendment, that every court must enforce an exclusionary rule, that to ban something in the Constitution is a command to all courts that they must apply the remedy: that illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible.

        You cannot look at Trumpā€™s comments about the metal detectors and the ā€œ1776 Planā€ and conclude that thos was anything other than a violent attempted coup.

    • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      I believe the question with self-execution is whether you have to be found guilty of some insurrection-related crime.

      Like a law saying felons canā€™t vote would require a felony conviction to trigger, while the age requirement for president is self-executing so by itself it prevents people younger than 35 from being president.