Her words are falling on deaf ears.
On Wednesday, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold urged the Supreme Court to affirm the state’s authority to lawfully exclude former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot. Griswold’s request is rooted in Trump’s actions in 2020, culminating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and raises the question of whether he “engaged in insurrection” under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, thereby rendering him ineligible to serve as president.
As the top election official in Colorado and a Democrat, Griswold filed a brief ahead of the upcoming Supreme Court arguments, providing a defense of Colorado’s process for assessing the eligibility of candidates. The brief emphasized the state’s historical reliance on its court procedure to address ballot access and election disputes involving intricate legal and factual issues, including matters of constitutional significance.
Griswold’s legal team highlighted the consistency in employing the same state process to determine the eligibility of presidential candidates based on criteria such as the mandatory minimum age of 35. They asserted that Colorado should not be compelled to include a candidate, namely Trump, whom its courts have found to have violated his oath to uphold the Constitution by participating in insurrection.
In response, Trump and six Colorado voters challenging the decision have already submitted their respective briefs. The outcome of this case holds broader implications, as it may set a precedent for other states to follow suit if Trump faces exclusion from the primary ballot in Colorado. The Supreme Court’s ruling in this matter is poised to shape the intersection of electoral processes, constitutional provisions, and the consequences of actions leading to the events of January 6, 2020.
