Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold expressed her disappointment with the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to allow former President Donald Trump’s appearance on the Colorado ballot for the upcoming Super Tuesday caucuses.
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court decided that individual states couldn’t remove President Trump from the ballot. This decision overturned a ruling by a Colorado court, which had found him ineligible and disqualified him from the state ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section disqualifies individuals from holding office, civil or military if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
In an interview with MSNBC on March 4, shared on her X account, Ms. Griswold expressed her overall feeling of “disappointment” in response to the news.
“I do believe that states should be able under our constitution to bar oath-breaking insurrectionists,” she said.
“Ultimately, this decision leaves open or leaves open the door for Congress to act to pass authorizing legislation, but we know that Congress is a nearly non-functioning body. So ultimately, it will be up to the American voters to save our democracy in November,” she continued.
According to a press release from Ms. Griswold’s office, on September 6, 2023, voters filed a lawsuit aiming to prevent President Trump from appearing on the Colorado ballot under the provisions as per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. They cited President Trump’s alleged role in riling up protestors, which they argue contributed to the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, as evidence of engaging in insurrection.
On December 19, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that President Trump indeed participated in insurrection. As a result, his actions led to his disqualification from the presidential primary ballot in Colorado.
However, it also mandated that President Trump be included on the ballot while his appeal to the United States Supreme Court was pending, a move that proved successful in the end.
The Supreme Court has decided that states cannot enforce Section 3 against national candidates. Instead, they emphasized that “the Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made.”
Ms. Griswold expressed her hope that Congress would pursue insurrection charges against the former president. She had earlier urged the Supreme Court to prevent President Trump from appearing on the ballot to ensure that “votes are not wasted on ineligible candidates.”
Although Ms. Griswold opposed the recent Supreme Court ruling, she stated in her social media post on platform X that she was “glad to have a ruling from the Court” because it provides clarity to voters that “Donald Trump is eligible to appear on the ballot ahead of Super Tuesday.”
Simultaneously, she leveled accusations against the Supreme Court, alleging “some pretty big issues” regarding unreported gifts and alleged bribery. She further accused the Court of stripping “Americans of our basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
“With that said, we live in a country of rule of law. We have to respect the court’s decisions while disagreeing with them,” Ms. Griswold stated.
“And honestly, I think that’s something that MAGA Republicans could take a lesson from,” she added.
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