Trump Asks Supreme Court To Overturn Colorado Ban

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Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to reverse a Colorado ruling that barred him from running for president in the state.

In December, Colorado's top court said it had found "convincing evidence" Mr Trump was involved in insurrection at the time of the 2021 US Capitol riot.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in multiple states seeking to disqualify Mr Trump from the November 2024 ballot.

The former US president has also been removed from the ballot in Maine.

In Maine and Colorado, Mr Trump - the current Republican frontrunner - was removed from the ballot by challenges that accused him of inciting the 2021 US Capitol riot.

The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution bans anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding federal office.

The decision from Colorado's Supreme Court in December was narrow, with four judges in favour and three against.

In a statement, the Trump campaign accused the Colorado Supreme Court and President Joe Biden of "doing all they can to disenfranchise all American voters by attempting to remove President Trump".

"This is an un-American, unconstitutional act of election interference which cannot stand," campaign spokesman Steven Cheung added.

"We urge a clear, summary rejection of the Colorado Supreme Court's wrongful ruling and the execution of a free and fair election in November."

Mr Trump's appeal to the Supreme Court was widely expected. The decisions to strike him from the ballot in Colorado and Maine are on hold until the legal challenges can be resolved.

The Supreme Court's ruling on the issue of Mr Trump's eligibility would be applied nationwide.

Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Trump attorney Alina Habba said the former president is concerned the conservative-leaning Supreme Court could rule against him in order to "shy away from being pro-Trump".

"That's a concern he's voiced to me, he's voiced to everybody publicly, not privately," she said. "And I can tell you that his concern is a valid one."

The Colorado case marks the first time in US history that the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate from the ballot.

While Mr Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election are the focus of trials in federal court and a state court in Georgia, Mr Trump has not been charged with inciting insurrection in either case.

Speaking to the BBC after Colorado's ruling, legal experts said the politically contentious Colorado case puts the Supreme Court in a precarious and difficult position.

"The Supreme Court is being asked to define the boundaries of democracy," Samuel Issacharoff, a constitutional law professor at New York University, said.

One of the most challenges aspects, Prof Issacharoff said, is that the former president "has tremendous support on one side of the aisle and tremendous vilification on the other".

On Tuesday, Mr Trump also asked that a state court overturn the move by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

Courts in several other US states, including Minnesota and Michigan, have dismissed similar efforts to remove Mr Trump from the ballot.

In other states, such as Oregon, cases revolving around his eligibility are still pending.

On Tuesday, David Janovksy, a senior policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog, said that the Supreme Court taking up the issue is the "best outcome" to solve the issue nationally.

"The fact that we now have two states in Colorado and Maine that have made this determination against the backdrop of other states that have declined to go that far means that if there was ever a case for the Supreme Court to resolve, this would be it," he said.

"Time is of the essence."