By Joan Biskupic, Kaitlan Collins and Devan Cole | CNN
Donald Trump has formally asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado state Supreme Court ruling that removed him from the state’s 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause,” according to sources familiar with the matter.
“This Court should grant certiorari to consider this question of paramount importance, summarily reverse the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling, and return the right to vote for their candidate of choice to the voters,” attorneys for the former president wrote in the filing.
Trump’s team is arguing that the “question of eligibility” for the presidency should be determined by Congress, not the states, and that the Colorado Supreme Court erred when it ruled that an insurrection occurred on January 6, 2021, and that Trump “engaged” in it.
The Supreme Court is facing mounting pressure to settle the question of whether Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, can be disqualified from holding public office, as state courts and election officials have come to differing conclusions across the country. The first contests of the 2024 primary begin in weeks.
The high court is separately involved in other matters that could impact the federal criminal case against the former president.
Trump’s appeal comes nearly a week after the Colorado GOP, which is also a party in the case, filed a separate appeal, and two weeks after the Colorado ruling came down. The ruling has been put on hold while appeals play out and Colorado’s top election official has already made clear that Trump’s name will be included on the state’s primary ballot when it’s certified on January 5 – unless the US Supreme Court says otherwise.
But it’s unlikely the high court would resolve the case as quickly as this week. If the justices do take up the case and conclude Trump is ineligible for public office, then any…
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