A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution맥스카지노�s insurrection clause and removed him from the state맥스카지노�s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation맥스카지노�s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race.The decision from a court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.맥스카지노�A majority of the court holds that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,맥스카지노� the court wrote in its 4-3 decision.Colorado맥스카지노�s highest court overturned a ruling from a district court judge who found that Trump incited an insurrection for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but said he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the provision was intended to cover the presidency.The court stayed its decision until Jan. 4, or until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case.맥스카지노�We do not reach these conclusions lightly,맥스카지노� wrote the court맥스카지노�s majority. 맥스카지노�We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.맥스카지노�Trump맥스카지노�s attorneys had promised to appeal any disqualification immediately to the nation's highest court, which has the final say about constitutional matters."The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,맥스카지노� Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Tuesday night.Trump lost Colorado by 13 percentage points in 2020 and doesn맥스카지노�t need the state to win next year맥스카지노�s presidential election. But the danger for the former president is that more courts and election officials will follow Colorado맥스카지노�s lead and exclude Trump from must-win states.Colorado officials say the issue must be settled by Jan. 5, the deadline for the state to print its presidential primary ballots.Dozens of lawsuits have been filed nationally to disqualify Trump under Section 3, which was designed to keep former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War. It bars from office anyone who swore an oath to 맥스카지노�support맥스카지노� the Constitution and then 맥스카지노�engaged in insurrection or rebellion맥스카지노� against it, and has been used only a handful of times since the decade after the Civil War.The Colorado case is the first where the plaintiffs succeeded. After a weeklong hearing in November, District Judge Sarah B. Wallace found that Trump indeed had 맥스카지노�engaged in insurrection맥스카지노� by inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and her ruling that kept him on the ballot was a fairly technical one.Trump맥스카지노�s attorneys convinced Wallace that, because the language in Section 3 refers to 맥스카지노�officers of the United States맥스카지노� who take an oath to 맥스카지노�support맥스카지노� the Constitution, it must not apply to the president, who is not included as an 맥스카지노�officer of the United States맥스카지노� elsewhere in the document and whose oath is to 맥스카지노�preserve, protect and defend맥스카지노� the Constitution.The provision also says offices covered include senator, representative, electors of the president and vice president, and all others 맥스카지노�under the United States,맥스카지노� but doesn맥스카지노�t name the presidency.The state맥스카지노�s highest court didn맥스카지노�t agree, siding with attorneys for six Colorado Republican and unaffiliated voters who argued that it was nonsensical to imagine the framers of the amendment, fearful of former Confederates returning to power, would bar them from low-level offices but not the highest one in the land.맥스카지노�You맥스카지노�d be saying a rebel who took up arms against the government couldn맥스카지노�t be a county sheriff, but could be the president,맥스카지노� attorney Jason Murray said in arguments before the court in early December.Video below: Special counsel Jack Smith asks Supreme Court for quick ruling on whether Trump can be prosecutedTrump맥스카지노�s attorneys argued unsuccessfully that the writers of the amendment expected the Electoral College to prevent former insurrectionists from becoming president.They also had urged the Colorado high court to reverse Wallace맥스카지노�s ruling that Trump incited the Jan. 6 attack. His lawyers argued the then-president had simply been using his free speech rights and hadn맥스카지노�t called for violence. Trump attorney Scott Gessler also argued the attack was more of a 맥스카지노�riot맥스카지노� than an insurrection.That met skepticism from several of the justices.맥스카지노�Why isn맥스카지노�t it enough that a violent mob breached the Capitol when Congress was performing a core constitutional function?맥스카지노� Justice William W. Hood III said during the Dec. 6 arguments. 맥스카지노�In some ways, that seems like a poster child for insurrection.맥스카지노�In the ruling issued Tuesday, the court's majority dismissed the arguments that Trump wasn맥스카지노�t responsible for his supporters맥스카지노� violent attack, which was intended to halt Congress' certification of the presidential vote: 맥스카지노�President Trump then gave a speech in which he literally exhorted his supporters to fight at the Capitol,맥스카지노� they wrote.Colorado Supreme Court Justices Richard L. Gabriel, Melissa Hart, William W. Hood III and Monica Márquez ruled for the petitioners. Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright dissented, arguing the constitutional questions were too complex to be solved in a state hearing. Justices Maria E. Berkenkotter and Carlos Samour also dissented.맥스카지노�Our government cannot deprive someone of the right to hold public office without due process of law,맥스카지노� Samour wrote in his dissent. 맥스카지노�Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past 맥스카지노� dare I say, engaged in insurrection 맥스카지노� there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office.맥스카지노�The Colorado ruling stands in contrast with the Minnesota Supreme Court, which last month decided that the state party can put anyone it wants on its primary ballot. It dismissed a Section 3 lawsuit but said the plaintiffs could try again during the general election.In another 14th Amendment case, a Michigan judge ruled that Congress, not the judiciary, should decide whether Trump can stay on the ballot. That ruling is being appealed.The liberal group behind those cases, Free Speech For People, also filed another lawsuit in Oregon seeking to bounce Trump from the ballot there. The Colorado case was filed by another liberal group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.Both groups are financed by liberal donors who also support President Joe Biden. Trump has blamed the president for the lawsuits against him, even though Biden has no role in them, saying his rival is 맥스카지노�defacing the constitution맥스카지노� to try to end his campaign.