Many Republicans outraged by the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that Donald Trump is not eligible for the state's 2024 GOP presidential primary ballot have suggested similar measures for President Joe Biden.
Colorado's high court ruled Tuesday in a lawsuit that it determined Trump engaged in an insurrection against the U.S. on Jan. 6, 2021, and therefore barred him based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies from office those who engage in insurrection against the Constitution after taking an oath to support it.
But some Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is challenging Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, said Biden should be ineligible using the same line of reasoning as Colorado's high court because his lax immigration policy has led to millions of illegal immigrants crossing into the country.
"There was no trial on any of this. They basically said you can't be on the ballot," DeSantis said Tuesday in a video posted on X at a campaign stop in Iowa. "How does that work? What's the limiting principle for that? Could we just say that Biden can't be on the ballot because he let in 8 million illegals into the country, and violated the Constitution? Which he has."
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoed DeSantis in believing Biden should be ineligible for his state's ballot.
"Seeing what happened in Colorado makes me think — except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he's been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history," Patrick told Fox News on Tuesday night.
Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who is among 19 defendants, including Trump, in a 2020 election-interference case in Georgia — in which she pleaded guilty — said Republicans should file suit in Colorado to remove Biden, again citing his failed border policies.
"What is absolutely wild about this opinion from the Colorado Supreme Court is that it contains no limiting principle," Ellis posted Tuesday on X. "Republicans should immediately file suit in Colorado to remove Biden from the ballot; citing his failure to secure the border and allowing an invasion falls within the Court's broad definition of 'engaging in insurrection.' Challenge this nonsense."
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is being applied to a major party candidate for the first time in the nation's history — it was included to prohibit those who supported the Confederacy in the Civil War. It states, "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, is appealing the Colorado high court's decision, which won't take effect until Jan. 4. Similar lawsuits in Minnesota and New Hampshire have been dismissed. A judge in Michigan ruled last month the issue was too political and not for him to decide, and an appeals court affirmed the decision. Trump's opponents appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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