Donald Trump's lawyers urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to reverse a "dubious" judicial decision disqualifying the former president from Colorado's Republican primary ballot as the justices prepare to tackle the politically explosive case.
Trump's lawyers in court papers presented the former president's main arguments against a Colorado Supreme Court Dec. 19 ruling barring him from the primary ballot over his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, citing the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"On December 19, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ordered President Donald J. Trump — the leading Republican candidate for president — removed from the presidential primary ballot based on a dubious interpretation of section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment," the filing read. "Efforts are underway in more than 30 states to remove President Trump from the primary and general-election ballots based on similar rationales.
"Yet it is a ‘fundamental principle of our representative democracy,’ embodied in the Constitution, that ... ‘the people should choose whom they please to govern them.'"
The justices have scheduled oral arguments in the case for Feb. 8.
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