Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 25 other AGs across the nation are imploring the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to block former President Donald Trump from its presidential ballot.
The U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday that it was taking up the case. They were petitioned by the Trump campaign on Tuesday.
“In this country, the people elect our leaders. That’s what it means to live in a democracy. One state’s judges have no right to decide a presidential election for all 330 million Americans,” Coleman said. “This isn’t a question of Republican or Democrat; it’s a question of letting the voters decide. All Americans, regardless of political affiliation, should want a vigorous election and oppose this undemocratic effort.”
The decision could have a ripple effect at the ballot box, Coleman said.
Presidential elections are national contests, and throwing a candidate off Colorado’s ballot could dilute Kentuckians’ votes at the ballot box. With the Iowa caucuses just days away, Coleman and the coalition stress how the Colorado court’s decision to bar a leading candidate from its ballot threatens to throw the 2024 presidential election into chaos.
“We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene right away and deliver a clear answer before voters are denied the chance to vote for the candidate of their choosing,” Coleman said.
The attorneys general also voice concerns that the Colorado court upset the respective roles of Congress, the states, and the courts. The Constitution gives Congress, not courts, exclusive authority to decide who is eligible to run for the Presidency under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Colorado case argues Trumps actions surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riots fall under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause,” which disqualifies those who have engaged or assisted in insurrection against the country from holding office.
Any Supreme Court decision would likely end the issue in other states. Trump’s ballot qualifications have been challenged in more than a dozen states, and he was removed from the ballot in Maine on the same argument.
The amicus brief was led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita. Attorney General Coleman was joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
To read the brief, click here.
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Written by Mark Maynard. Cross-posted from Kentucky Today.
