Why Trump was banned from Colorado ballot and what it means for 2024 election
Donald Trump’s hopes of running for another term as US president have hit a fresh snag after a court in Colorado ruled he couldn’t appear on the ballot.
The election to select who will be the next president is set to be held next year, with primary runoff elections for each party due to take place in May.
Mr Trump, who served as president from 2016 to 2020, is currently the favourite for the Republican ticket, but may be disqualified due to the many legal challenges against him.
What has the Colorado court ruled?
The Supreme Court in the US state of Colorado has ruled that former president Donald Trump is ineligible to hold office again because he took part in an insurrection.
The ruling cited his actions which led up to the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Four judges backed the ruling, with three dissenting, with the justices writing in a statement that do not “reach these conclusions lightly”.
“We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favour, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach,” they said.
Can Donald Trump still run for president?
Under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, people who engage in insurrection against the Constitution after taking an oath to support it are ineligible for public office.
Last month, a district court judge in Denver, Colorado had ruled that Section 3 did not apply to the office of the US president, but this has now been overturned by the Colorado High Court.
This means he cannot be included in the presidential ballot in Colorado but does not prevent him from running for president in other states.
Several other states have already unsuccessfully tried to take on this issue, with judges in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Michigan dismissing cases.
But the US Constitution has very few limits on who can run for president – they must be at least 35 years old, be “natural born” citizens and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
Theoretically, new legislation could be passed barring someone with a criminal record from running for president, but this would be controversial and would likely be challenged in the courts.
Mr Trump has not yet been found guilty of a crime but is currently embroiled in four separate legal cases which include over 100 charges.
What will happen next?
Mr Trump’s campaign has confirmed it will appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court.
The latest ruling only applies in the state of Colorado but could apply to all 50 US states if it is upheld by that nation’s highest court.
The Supreme Court currently has six conservative justices to three liberal justices, with three of those of conservative-leaning appointed while Mr Trump was in office.
“Unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice,” a campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in a statement.
“We have full confidence that the US Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favour and finally put an end to these un-American lawsuits.”
What are the legal cases and charges against Donald Trump?
Mr Trump has been charged with dozens of felonies across two federal cases, and separate cases in New York and Georgia.
The first federal case, which is being heard in Washington, has charged Mr Trump with four felony accounts.
Two relate to his disruption of Congress’ certification of the electoral vote on 6 January, while the third charges him with conspiracy to defraud by impeding the collection and counting of votes.
The fourth accuses Mr Trump of a conspiracy to deprive citizens of a right secured under federal law by denying people the right to vote and have their vote counted.
The second federal case relates to Mr Trump’s retention of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House, and claims that he showed such documents to individuals who were not authorized to view them.
In this case, which is being heard in Florida, he faces 40 charges of which 32 are being brought under the Espionage Act.
The case in Georgia relates to his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, where Mr Trump is accused of spreading voter fraud claims and asking lawmakers to reverse Joe Biden’s win in the state.
The indictment accuses 19 named defendants of criminal wrongdoing and contains a total of 41 state-law felony charges, of which thirteen are levelled against Mr Trump.
He is also facing a case in New York amid claims he falsified business records to facilitate a “hush money” payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claimed she had a sexual encounter with him. Mr Trump faces 34 felony charges in the case.
The former president is additionally facing a civil fraud trial in New York which accuses Mr Trump and other defendants, including his sons, of fraudulently inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals.