Republican attorneys general from 27 states have filed a court brief supporting Donald Trump in his Supreme Court battle to remain on Colorado’s 2024 presidential ballot.
In a 22-page ‘friend of the court’ brief filed on Saturday, the attorneys general called on the high court to strike down a Colorado court decision barring Trump under the 14th Amendment’s insurrectionist ban.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on February 8, and its decision on Trump’s eligibility to run for president will have far-reaching implications for the November election, after Maine acted separately to ban Trump on similar grounds.
In their brief, the Republican AGs argued that if allowed to stand, the ‘Colorado court’s decision will create widespread chaos.’
‘Most obviously, it casts confusion into an election cycle that is just weeks away. Beyond that, it upsets the respective roles of the Congress, the States, and the courts,’ the filing argues.
Republican attorneys general from 27 states have filed a court brief supporting Donald Trump in his Supreme Court battle to remain on Colorado’s 2024 presidential ballot
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (left) and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (right) led the filing, which was joined by AGs from 25 other states
The brief argues that the Colorado court overstepped its authority in banning Trump from the presidency.
Beyond the Constitution’s clear age, residency and citizenship requirements, decisions on who can serve as president rightly rests first with voters to choose a president, and then with Congress under the power of impeachment, the brief argues.
If the Colorado decision is allowed to stand, future presidential elections would devolve into battles waged in state court over candidate eligibility, the brief argued.
‘Many Americans will become convinced that a few partisan actors have contrived to take a political decision out of ordinary voters’ hands,’ it states.
‘The Court should act now to stop all these ‘strange, far-reaching, and injurious results’ from spinning out of control,’ the filing stated.
The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether Trump can be kept off the ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who ‘engaged in insurrection’ from holding public office.
The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War. It has been so rarely used that the nation’s highest court had no previous occasion to interpret it.
The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether Trump can be kept off the ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss
Colorado’s Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, ruled last month that Trump should not be on the Republican primary ballot, marking the first time the 14th Amendment was used to bar a presidential contender from the ballot.
Trump is separately appealing to state court a ruling by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, that he was ineligible to appear on that state´s ballot over his role in the Capitol attack.
Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.
Trump, speaking at a campaign event in Iowa, reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Colorado case by saying: ‘All I want is fair. I just hope that they’re going to be fair.’