Trump Begs US Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot

Attorneys for former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday requested that the right-wing United States Supreme Court allow him to appear on Colorado's Republican primary ballot for this year's presidential contest.

The widely anticipated move comes after the Colorado Republican Party appealed the state Supreme Court's decision to boot him off the ballot last month, based on the argument that he can't serve as president again under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution after inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

The Colorado lawsuit—one of several similar ongoing cases across the country—was launched in September by the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and law firms representing six GOP and unaffiliated voters, who have also asked the country's highest court to swiftly weigh in.

"Donald Trump's unprecedented actions on January 6, 2021 unquestionably bar him from Colorado primary ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, as determined by the Colorado Supreme Court," CREW president and CEO Noah Bookbinder said Tuesday. "It is crucial that the Supreme Court take up and review this case quickly so that Colorodans and the American public have complete clarity on Donald Trump's eligibility before casting their ballots."

Trump is the GOP front-runner for 2024 despite the 14th amendment argument and his various criminal cases, including two that stem from his attempts to overturn his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection this year.

The president is not involved in any of the legal efforts to bar Trump from state ballots and after the Republican formally announced his current campaign, Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney General Merrick put Special Counsel Jack Smith in charge of the two federal cases targeting the twice-impeached former president.

Still, Trump and his campaign continue to blame the president for the legal trouble, with spokesperson Steven Cheung saying Wednesday that "crooked Joe Biden's comrades, including the Colorado Supreme Court and CREW, a radical, left-wing activist group, are doing all they can to disenfranchise all American voters by attempting to remove President Trump, the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election, from the primary ballot."

"Democrats are obsessively violating the American voters' constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choice," he claimed. "This is an unAmerican, unconstitutional act of election interference which cannot stand. We urge a clear, summary rejection of the Colorado Supreme Court's wrongful ruling and the execution of a free and fair election this November."

So far, the only other state where Trump has been barred from the primary ballot is Maine; Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows made that move—in response to voter challenges citing the 14th Amendment—last week, and Trump appealed her decision to the state Superior Court on Tuesday.

Bellows and Colorado Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold have endured threats to their safety since the initial decisions, which are both on hold pending higher court reviews.

Trump appointed three current members of the U.S. Supreme Court but congressional Democrats have urged another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, to recuse himself in Trump ballot eligibility cases because his wife, Ginni Thomas, participated in the effort to overthrow the 2020 election.