A court in Colorado (USA) rules that Trump cannot run for president in that state

The former US president will appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court and considers it a "sad day" for the country

The Supreme Court of Colorado (USA) has this Tuesday excluded former US President Donald Trump from the presidential primaries for the 2024 White House elections, considering that he is not an eligible presidential candidate due to his role in the assault on the Capitol.

The judges, who have relied on the Fourteenth Amendment - which prohibits any person who has sworn to the Constitution and participated in an insurrection from holding public office again - have made this decision with four votes in favor and three against. . The ruling will be suspended until January 4, pending appeal, one day before the deadline for certification of the state primaries.

"Because he is disqualified, it would be an unlawful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to include him as a candidate in the presidential primary," the court said, pointing to the federal Constitution's "insurrectional prohibition." and have concluded that this measure applies to the Presidency.

Following this, Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold has promised to comply with the state court's ruling and has disagreed with the rulings of the dissenting judges, adding that she does not believe that "it is impossible" to disqualify a candidate from the presidential primaries according to statements made to the American television network CNN.

"My job as Secretary of State is to ensure that only qualified candidates appear on our ballots. Of course, I will abide by any judicial decision (...) I do not agree with dissent, but ultimately it depends on the judicial systems" , he stated, while noting that Trump "incited the insurrection and it is up to a court to determine whether that disqualifies him from continuing to hold office under the Constitution."

In addition, the judges have pointed out that the attack on January 6, 2021 on the United States Capitol has been an insurrection, that Trump "got involved" in it and that the former president's speech "inciting the crowd" that day "does not was protected by the First Amendment."

In determining that Trump participated in an insurrection, the Colorado court has said there is "substantial evidence" that the former president was "laying the groundwork for a claim that the election was rigged" before the November presidential race. According to them, the former leader "continued to fan the flames of anger among his followers, which he himself had ignited" by making false claims about the integrity of the elections.

This decision applies only to the state of Colorado, but could affect his 2024 presidential campaign, in which he starts as the favorite of the Republican Party despite the various court dates he has scheduled. It is the first time that a court has determined that a president cannot return to the White House because of his conduct.

This ruling reverses a previous ruling by a lower court that stated that the Constitution's "insurrectional prohibition" did not include the Presidency. Then, Judge Sarah Wallace of the Denver (Colorado) district court who rejected Trump's disqualification with this argument.

For its part, Trump's campaign team has asserted that "it will quickly file an appeal before the country's Supreme Court and "a simultaneous request to suspend this deeply undemocratic decision." "We have full confidence that the Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these anti-American demands," campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.

The former president has considered that it is "a sad day" for the country and has asserted that the "lowlife" special prosecutor, Jack Smith, has been appointed "to tarnish" his "reputation for electoral purposes." He previously denied wrongdoing regarding January 6 and called the Fourteenth Amendment lawsuits an abuse of legal process.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, the renowned Trumpist Mike Johnson, has asserted that this ruling is "nothing more than a barely simulated partisan attack" and has shown his confidence in the Supreme Court to "put aside this reckless decision and allow the American people decide who will be the next president.

"Regardless of their political affiliation, every citizen registered to vote should not be denied the right to support our former president and the individual who leads all the Republican primary polls," he stated through his profile on the social network. X, formerly known as Twitter.

In the hypothetical case that he is convicted and, for some reason, cannot pardon himself, he would not be the only one to take his candidacy behind bars. In 1920, socialist Eugene Debs ran for President from his cell.