Former President Donald Trump won a significant legal battle Friday as a Colorado judge ruled that he must remain on the ballot in the 2024 election. The victory is the third recent victory for the former president in challenges to his ability to seek the White House.
Judge Sarah Wallace determined this week that Trump was eligible for the ballot.
A coalition of left-wing voters challenged Trump’s ability to legally serve as president due to a clause in the 14th Amendment regarding support for an insurrection.
Wallace’s ruling deemed that the case did not accurately interpret the amendment. The judge ruled that the former president was not an “officer of the United States” as set out by the clause.
💥My incredible partners at @dhillonlaw defeated the challenge to President Trump being on the ballot in yet another state, Colorado!! I was on the phone moments ago with partner David Warrington when the news came through. Kudos to our team, local counsel and President Trump!!! https://t.co/KYtO3dBltf
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) November 17, 2023
Trump’s legal team actively challenged the suit, arguing that his comments surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 protest did “not come close to ‘incitement,’ let alone ‘engagement’ in an insurrection.”
The judge ruled that since the amendment specifically cites offices such as members of the House or Senate, but not the presidency, the case was invalid.
The case gathered significant attention and controversy. Wallace rejected an earlier bid by the Trump legal team for her to recuse herself. The judge had been appointed in 2022 by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) and had given money to a left-wing political organization.
Following the decision, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said that the former president’s campaign applauded the ruling, which he said was “another nail in the coffin of the un-American ballot challenges. With this decision, Democrats’ 14th Amendment challenges have now been defeated in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire.”
He said that the cases “represent the most cynical and blatant political attempts to interfere with the upcoming presidential election by desperate Democrats who know Crooked Joe Biden is a failed president on the fast track to defeat.”
The Colorado victory follows similar wins for Trump in Minnesota and Michigan. In the former case, the Minnesota state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Trump could not be removed due to the ‘insurrection clause’ argument.
