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WASHINGTON – Donald Trump on Monday called himself the “presumptive nominee” for president and asked the Supreme Court to protect the rights of tens of millions of Americans who want to vote for him.
In a filing days before the nation’s highest court considers a case to exclude Colorado from the ballot, Trump’s lawyers said excluding him would be “anti-democratic,” similar to recent actions in Venezuela. He argued that it would be. His lawyers are appealing a Colorado decision that disqualified him from running in the state, citing the constitution’s sedition clause.
“There was no ‘riot,'” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “President Trump has not ‘incited’ anything, and President Trump has not ‘involved’ in anything that constitutes an ‘insurrection.’
Mr. Trump’s lawyers cited a 1964 ruling on state legislative districts, saying the court had previously held that “the right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is the essence of a democratic society, and that no “Restrictions are also at the heart of a democratic society,” he said. representative government. ”
In December, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump had no right to run for president, citing his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The court ruled that he was ineligible to run as a candidate. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment bars anyone from holding office who commits rebellion after pledging to support the Constitution.
Preparing to vote: See who’s running for president and compare their positions on important issues with our voter guide
Did not “participate in the rebellion”
President Trump has argued that this provision does not apply to him. And even if he did, he did not “engage in the rebellion,” his lawyers said.
Trump’s eligibility is being challenged by six Colorado Republican and independent voters represented by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW).
He called Colorado’s decision “the only outlier” among many cases that have failed in court. The Colorado case is the only one to succeed in court, but Maine’s secretary of state ruled in December that Trump was not eligible to vote in that state. The ruling, which Trump is appealing, is on hold until the Supreme Court rules on the Colorado case.
Trump’s disqualification would be the same “anti-democratic step” taken by Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship when it removed a leading opposition presidential candidate from the ballot, his lawyers told the court. .
Trump’s lawyers had warned in an earlier filing that “chaos and confusion” would ensue unless the courts brought the disbarment effort to a “swift and decisive end.”
Lawyers for voters challenging Trump’s eligibility said the nation had already witnessed the chaos caused by Trump’s refusal to accept his re-election loss on January 6, 2021. The constitution puts him in no position to do so again, they told the court.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination, but the only states he has won delegates to are Iowa and New Hampshire.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who continues to challenge the former president, is hoping for a strong performance in her home state of South Carolina on February 24th. But polls show Trump with a wide lead over Haley in South Carolina and elsewhere.
“Can you win that much?”Donald Trump reshaped the Supreme Court.That didn’t always make him a winner.
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