Colorado GOP petitions US Supreme Court to reinstate Trump to Colorado ballot on First Amendment grounds

"By excluding President Trump from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the First Amendment right of political parties to select the candidates of their choice and a usurpation of the rights of the people to choose their elected officials," attorneys for the state GOP said in their petition.

"Rejecting a long history of precedent, a state Supreme Court has now concluded that individual litigants, state courts, and secretaries of state in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia have authority to enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment," the state GOP continued.

The party is also concerned that removing Trump from the ballot could become a trend, saying "With the number of challenges to President Trump’s candidacy now pending in other states, ranging from lawsuits to administrative proceedings, there is a real risk the Colorado Supreme Court majority’s flawed and unprecedented analysis will be borrowed, and the resulting grave legal error repeated."

In their ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court essentially charged, tried and convicted Trump of insurrection without a court case, determining on their own that a violation had occurred, saying that Trump "incited and encouraged" violence on January 6, 2021. In none of the four criminal trials currently underway against Trump has he been accused of insurrection. In so doing, they reversed a lower court's ruling that Trump could remain on the ballot.

That lower court determined that Trump had engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021 during the riot at the Capitol Building, but that presidents are not covered in the 14th Amendment. The Colorado Supreme Court disagreed upon appeal in a 4-3 ruling.

The Colorado Republican Party's ask of the US Supreme Court comes ahead of an anticipated appeal by the Trump campaign.

The arguments being weighed in the appeal are whether presidents are subject to section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was written as a means to keep Confederate leaders from holding federal elected office. Also, whether section 3 violations can be determined by states themselves without congressional action, and whether denying a political party the ability to choose their own candidates for office is a First Amendment violation.

Trump faces potential removal in Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin. He was not removed from the ballot in Michigan despite a challenge there. Justice Elizabeth Welch ruled in that case, saying "Significantly, Colorado’s election laws differ from Michigan’s laws in a material way that is directly relevant to why the appellants in this case are not entitled to the relief they seek concerning the presidential primary election in Michigan."