On December 19th, the Supreme Court of Colorado ruled that due to committing insurrection, Donald Trump is ineligible to be President. Because he cannot be President, he should not be on the ballot, according to the Court. This marks the first time in history that a court has removed a presidential candidate from the ballot. The former Republican President will not be on the primary or general election ballots.
The practical effect
As per the US Constitution, each state’s government controls its presidential elections. Colorado has 10 electors out of the 538. A candidate in the general election needs a majority, which is 270. Colorado is a Democrat-leaning state, and it does not carry as many electors as the 10 largest states, but this ruling is still extremely important for a number of reasons.
Republicans have won Colorado in three of the last presidential elections, so it is not impossible for Trump to win it in 2024. If Trump is the GOP nominee but not on the general election ballot, that means that Democrats can totally abandon Colorado in their campaign. In every cycle, each party spends millions or billions of dollars and thousands or millions of man-hours campaigning for their candidate in each state, especially states that are relative battlegrounds.
More importantly, though, this precedent now opens the door for other Democratic states to remove Trump from their ballots, too. If Colorado can do it, California and New York certainly can. They are run by Democrats with massive majorities in all parts of the government. And NJ, IL, CT, MA, WA, OR, and many other states can follow suit. Democrats have already begun these processes in numerous other states.
Opposition
Those who disapprove of the decision cite the lack of due process, the dubious standing of plaintiffs, and the application of the 14th Amendment.
Due process: Trump was never convicted of ‘insurrection’ or anything similar. As I explained in tremendous detail in my book Presumed Guilty, all persons must be treated as if they are totally innocent until they are proven guilty. The Court punished him without due process.
Standing: The plaintiffs who initiated the lawsuit were Colorado voters who did not like Trump. Generally, a person must have some sort of injury or other substantial reason to bring a lawsuit. The Court determined that ‘not wanting an alleged insurrectionist on the ballot’ is enough to grant them standing. As Steven pointed out on this week’s podcast, courts ruled that no voters had standing to sue Pennsylvania’s government for blatantly violating their own election laws and their constitution in 2020. In that case, all American voters were facing concrete harm in the form of being forced to live under the rule of an illegitimate President Biden for four years due to the Pennsylvania politicians breaking the law.
14th Amendment: The actual amendment was written just after the Civil War, and its intention was to stop Confederates from serving in the union’s Congress without first pledging allegiance to DC and disavow the South. Some have pointed out that the text of the Amendment says that it applies to ‘officers’ who are appointed, which means that it may not apply to the President. Additionally, the Constitution prohibits states from adding qualifications for presidential candidates.
President Biden used the ruling by the Democratic judges in Colorado as evidence that Trump is an insurrectionist. He would love Trump and the other Republicans removed from the ballot in all states. In response, many conservatives are hoping that Republican states kick Biden off the ballot. Regardless, the President in 2025 will be presiding over the most divided union in at least 160 years. More than ever before, the voters in some states – and possibly the majority of all voters – will refuse to accept that the President was legitimately elected.
These and many other developments have made one thing clear: This union cannot remain intact. I, for one, welcome the inevitable breakup of the union.
Update 12/28: The Maine Secretary of State decided that Trump would be removed from the ballot in Maine, a swing state that carries four electoral college votes.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Liberty Block or any of its members. We welcome all forms of serious feedback and debate.
