In Colorado, justice is causing a stir. The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency because of his actions during the storming of the Capitol, sending shockwaves that are still incalculable in the tumultuous US presidential campaign.
All eyes are now on the U.S. Supreme Court, to which the former Republican president will appeal, a spokesman immediately announced.
By a majority of four out of seven justices, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the trial court's decision that Donald Trump had "engaged in a rebellion on January 6, 2021" during the storming of the Capitol, but instead considered that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, invoked to claim his ineligibility, did apply to a president.
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On that day, hundreds of white-hot supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, a shrine of American democracy, in an attempt to prevent the certification of the victory of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
The judges are "aware that they are treading on uncharted territory".
The historic indictment of the former president on August 1 at the federal level and then on August 14 by the state of Georgia (southeast) for his alleged illegal attempts to have the results of the 2020 election reversed has opened a legal debate on his possible ineligibility, leading to appeals in several states.
But out of about 15 lawsuits underway in various states, including two rejected in Minnesota and Michigan, the Colorado court is the first to pronounce Donald Trump's ineligibility.
In their decision ordering the election authorities of this western state to remove Donald Trump's name from the ballots for the Republican primaries in 2024, the judges say they are "aware that they are moving into uncharted territory".
They are suspending the injunction until Jan. 4, the deadline for the validation of ballots in the primaries, if there is an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by then.
"If an appeal is filed with the Supreme Court before the expiration of this suspension, it will remain in effect and the election official will still have to include President Trump's name on the primary ballot for 2024 until she receives any injunction or warrant from the Supreme Court," according to their ruling.
A 'shaky' decision for the Trump camp
Therefore, pending a possible decision by the Supreme Court, commentators point out that in all likelihood Donald Trump's name will appear on the ballots in Colorado as in the other states affected by "Super Tuesday", March 5, 2024. The Republican camp nevertheless denounced the decision as "anti-democratic".
"The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will quickly go to the U.S. Supreme Court and seek a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the decision "irresponsible" and nothing less than a "thinly veiled partisan attack."
"We won!" said the anti-corruption group Crew, which initiated the lawsuit in Colorado.
Doubts about the 14th Amendment to the Constitution
The decision "is not only historic and justified, but necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country," Crew President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
"Mr. Trump acted with the specific intent of inciting political violence and directing it toward the Capitol for the purpose of preventing the certification of the election" of Joe Biden, the trial judge, Sarah Wallace, said in her decision on November 17.
On the other hand, it considered that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, invoked by the applicants, did not apply to the President, while acknowledging the existence of doubts on this point.
This amendment passed in 1868, aimed at supporters of the Confederacy defeated in the Civil War (1861-1865), excluded from public responsibility anyone who, after taking an oath to defend the Constitution, had engaged in acts of "rebellion."