For Immediate Release:
January 18, 2024
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
Cameron Mixon (334) 242-7491
(Montgomery) – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has submitted an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision from Colorado that kept former President Donald Trump off the ballot for that state’s Presidential Primary Elections. The coalition of 25 states—the Arizona Legislature and legislative leadership of North Carolina also signed on—argues that Congress must decide whether to disqualify a person from office ineligible under the Section 3 of Fourteenth Amendment.
“The activism of the Colorado Supreme Court could disenfranchise millions of voters in violation of the Constitution,” said Attorney General Marshall. “I am confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will understand the gravity of this moment and will swiftly reverse this decision. We need the voting public to believe, once again, in the integrity of our electoral process.”
The coalition wrote, “in declaring that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to run for President in the coming election. “The Colorado Supreme Court has effectively reordered the roles of all the relevant players in presidential elections.” The coalition also argues: “The Colorado court’s decision strikes a serious blow to the Constitution’s structural separation of powers.”
The originating lawsuit was filed by six Colorado voters who insisted Trump is disqualified from office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment because of his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol. A state district judge ruled the insurrection clause does not apply to the presidency and allowed Trump to be on the ballot.
Then the Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling barring Trump from the GOP primary ballot under the 14th Amendment.
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming, along with the Arizona Legislature and the legislative leadership of North Carolina, joined the West Virginia- and Indiana-led brief.
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