A Colorado judge on Friday dismissed an effort to keep former President Donald Trump off the state’s ballot in 2024.
Colorado District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace issued a ruling in the Trump ballot eligibility case, ordering the Colorado secretary of state to place Trump on the state’s primary ballot for next year.
The ruling is another victory for Trump after courts in Minnesota and Michigan this month rejected similar legal efforts to disqualify him from running for president in those states.
A group of Colorado voters filed a legal challenge to Trump’s candidacy in September, arguing that his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his and conduct surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, making him ineligible for office.
The lawsuit alleged Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after having sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution and asked the court to declare that Trump is constitutionally ineligible to appear on any Colorado ballot for state or federal office and to prohibit Secretary of State Jena Griswold from allowing his name to appear on any future primary or general election ballots in the state.
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Wallace began hearing arguments in the case last month, with closing arguments in the trial taking place Wednesday.
“Through his actions, and his actions alone, Donald Trump has disqualified himself from ever holding office again,” attorney Sean Grimsley said in a closing argument on behalf of the petitioners.
The former president is facing a string of efforts in other states to keep him off the ballot in 2024 on similar grounds. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled last week that state law did not bar a major political party from placing a candidate who is ineligible for office on the presidential nomination primary ballot, and a Michigan judge denied a similar effort on Tuesday, finding that the secretary of state lacked the authority to intervene.
In his closing argument, Trump attorney Scott Gessler highlighted those cases, asserting that there is “an emerging consensus here within the judiciary across the United States.”
Top election officials in Arizona, New Hampshire and elsewhere are also weighing concerns similar to those raised in Colorado as they prepare state ballots for next year’s Republican presidential primaries, where Trump is leading in the polls among Republican contenders.
