Colorado found itself front and center of the conversation surrounding former President Donald Trump and the 2024 presidential election when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday, March 4, that Trump cannot be removed from the ballot by state officials in Colorado or any other state.
The decision was unanimous, with all nine justices agreeing that individual states are not allowed to bar candidates from being on the ballot by utilizing the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The ruling represents a landmark decision for the court and put an end to a historic case with significant implications for the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
The case before the court, colloquially known as Trump v. Anderson, originated in Colorado when six voters from the state filed a petition against Trump and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold. The petitioners argued that Trump should not be eligible to run for president under section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his actions leading up to and during the Jan. 6 incident at the capitol.
In simplified terms, section 3 states that an individual is disqualified from holding office in either federal or state government if they have previously taken an oath of office and “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government.
After working its way through the lower courts in Colorado, Trump v. Anderson was taken up by the Colorado Supreme Court. The court ruled Dec. 19, 2023, that section 3 does disqualify Trump from running for president, therefore the Colorado Secretary of State cannot list him on the ballot for the state’s presidential primary election.
Colorado was the first state to take action in the discussion of whether or not Trump is eligible to run for president, setting a precedent that drew national attention. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in January.
“This is a pretty novel constitutional question,” Associate Professor of political science Matthew Hitt said. “The Colorado Supreme Court broke pretty fresh doctrinal ground, to be honest. I can see why they did it, but it creates enough constitutional uncertainty that I think (the U.S. Supreme Court) had to take the case.”
Hitt’s research focuses on American political institutions, and much of it has been focused on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Regarding the current court led by Chief Justice John Roberts, Hitt said that there has been a trend of rulings based on specific and explicit parts of the Constitution.
“There has been a tendency on the Roberts courts to try and resolve cases on the narrowest possible grounds,” Hitt said. “(There is) a sense that there should be judicial restraint, that the justices should exercise their authority only when they absolutely have to.”
This idea appeared in the official unsigned ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling focused on whether individual states had the right to disqualify candidates from elections by way of section 3, not on whether or not section 3 should or should not disqualify Trump from running for office.
“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” the ruling said. “But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”
As for the role the state of Colorado had in this case, it has had a nationwide impact on the role of state governments in federal elections. The court’s decision applies to all states, not just Colorado.
“The justices of the Colorado Supreme Court felt the law and their oath of office bound them to make a ruling that they, of course, knew was going to be incredibly controversial,” Hitt said. “Indeed, it immediately attracted review by the U.S. Supreme Court, which does not happen to the Colorado Supreme Court very often.”
The office of the Colorado Secretary of State released a statement following the ruling acknowledging the decision and affirming Trump’s eligibility as a candidate in the state’s 2024 presidential primary.
The decision was released just one day before the Colorado presidential primary on Tuesday, March 5. The final results of the election had President Joe Biden winning the Democratic primary with 82.5% of the vote and Trump winning the Republican primary with 63.5% of the vote.
Reach Hannah Parcells at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @hannahparcells.
