DENVER — Former President Donald Trump is expected to appeal Tuesday against rulings from Colorado and Maine that ban him from the states' ballots, setting up a high-stakes showdown over a 155-year-old addition to the Constitution that would affect those who' involved in the constitution' are banned from office. in revolt.”
Trump would appeal the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Maine Democratic secretary of state's decision to that state's Supreme Court.
It would be the first time the nation's highest court could rule on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, two sentences added to the Constitution after the Civil War to prevent Confederates from returning to their former government offices. The clause says that anyone who swore an oath to support the Constitution and then “revolted against it” would no longer be eligible.
The appeals come as tensions rise over rulings that could keep the 2024 Republican presidential nominee from voting, though both Maine and Colorado's rulings have been stayed until the end of the appeals, and Trump is technically on the primary ballots in both states remain standing.
On Tuesday morning, Denver police arrested a man who was fleeing a car crash and came across the Colorado Supreme Court building. Police said he pointed a gun at an unarmed security guard, obtained the security guard's keys and access to the entire building, and fired his gun several times. No one was injured.
A motive was not immediately clear, but the Colorado State Patrol said the shooting did not appear to be related to previous threats against the judges, all of whom were appointed by Democratic governors.
Dozens of lawsuits citing the constitutional provision were filed against Trump last year in an attempt to end his presidential campaign, claiming he disqualified himself by inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent that Democrat Joe Biden would replace him as president. .
None of the lawsuits succeeded until the Colorado court ruling last month. Activists similarly asked dozens of top election officials not to put Trump on the ballot because of his alleged violation of Section 3. No one acted until Shenna Bellows of Maine ruled him out a week after the ruling in Colorado.
If the Supreme Court doesn't rule on the merits of the cases, legal experts say, states could face legal chaos that the Supreme Court is supposed to clear.
Supporters of disqualifying Trump argue that the matter is simple: Section 3 makes him no longer eligible to run for president, just as if he somehow failed to meet other constitutional requirements, such as being a natural-born citizen is at least 35 years old.
Trump's lawyers argue that this is a wild misinterpretation of a vague clause that was rarely used after the 1870s. They argue that Jan. 6 was not legally an insurrection, that the provision does not apply to the president and that whether Trump is eligible for the ballot is not a decision for unelected state judges to make.