The Supreme Court has yet to rule on his eligibility, but voters in Colorado can now cast ballots for Donald Trump to be the Republican presidential nominee this year.
The state began early voting on Monday ahead of next week’s primary and Mr. Trump is one of more than a half-dozen names on the GOP ballot, remaining there despite Colorado’s effort to kick him off.
The state Supreme Court ruled Mr. Trump engaged in an insurrection with his behavior surrounding the 2020 election and ruled he is disqualified from serving as president under the Constitution, so he cannot appear on the Colorado ballot.
The secretary of state then moved to delete him from the ballot, but the Supreme Court stepped in and forced officials to leave his name on the list while the justices pondered the case.
“His name will appear on the 2024 Presidential Primary ballot as a result,” the secretary of state tells voters on its website.
That raises questions about what would happen if the justices rule against Mr. Trump.
The secretary of state said in that case the votes for Mr. Trump would be discounted. His voters would lose their voice in the election.
“If the Supreme Court came back and said tomorrow that former President Trump should be taken off, the ballots are already printed, they are already in voters’ hands, and counties have already received tens of thousands of ballots at this point,” Matt Crane, Colorado County Clerks Association executive director, told FOX31 in Denver. “So any results for him received at that time — if he was to be removed from the ballot — would not be reflected or published on the summary reports or at the certification process.”
Court-watchers doubt it comes to that, based on the tenor of oral arguments before the federal justices earlier this month.
Almost all of them expressed skepticism at Colorado’s decision, raising several problems with what the state did.
Some justices said the state was applying the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause to the presidency when it was not explicitly listed. Others said it strained belief to think that the authors of the amendment intended for each state to rule on insurrection matters, rather than a federal authority. Some justices said the amendment may be a bar to taking office, but that is a decision for a later actor, such as Congress, and doesn’t necessarily deny a place on a ballot
A ruling is expected at any moment.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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