Colorado Supreme Court Rules Trump Ineligible to Hold Office Again

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled former President Donald Trump is ineligible to hold office again and ordered his name be excluded from the state’s Republican primary ballot.

For Context: Groups in a number of states recently brought cases arguing that Trump should be disqualified from holding public office due to alleged violations of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which disqualifies candidates who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Details: In a 4-3 decision, the court overturned a lower court’s ruling that Section 3 does not apply to the presidency. The ruling states that the lower court was correct to deem the Jan. 6 Capitol riot an “insurrection” and noted Trump’s speech “inciting the crowd” prior to the Capitol breach to state, “The sum of these parts is this: President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three; because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.” Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, said they would appeal the decision and accused the court of trying to “interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden.”

How the Media Covered It: Outlets across the spectrum prominently covered the ruling Tuesday night and indicated the case would likely be taken up by the Supreme Court.