Rulings Indicating that Trump is Ineligible to Appear on State Presidential Primary Ballots

 

Reminder: The decisions apply only to the specific states.

Colorado State Supreme Court Decision

The Colorado Supreme Court ruling was decided as 4 - 3 and found that Mr. Trump should not appear on the Colorado State presidential primary ballot. Because the full ruling is 213 pages, I have only uploaded the case summary, the majority opinion and minority opinions.

 

Case details: The Supreme Court of the State of Colorado, Supreme Court Case No. 23SA300, Appeal Pursuant to § 1-1-113(3), C.R.S. (2023)

 

Source:

Justia US Law online

https://law.justia.com/cases/colorado/supreme-court/2023/23sa300.html

Anderson v. Griswold

 

Case Summary:

In a case brought by a group of Colorado electors, the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado considered whether former President Donald J. Trump could appear on the Colorado Republican presidential primary ballot. The electors claimed that Trump was disqualified under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits anyone who has engaged in insurrection against the U.S. Constitution from holding office. The district court found that Trump had engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021, but concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to the presidency.

 

Upon review, the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado held that the Election Code allows the electors to challenge Trump's status as a qualified candidate based on Section Three. The court found that Congress does not need to pass legislation for Section Three's disqualification provision to apply, and that the provision encompasses the office of the Presidency. The court further held that the district court did not err in finding that Trump had engaged in insurrection, and that his speech inciting the crowd was not protected by the First Amendment. As a result, the court concluded that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three, and it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. The court stayed its ruling until January 4, 2024, to maintain the status quo pending any review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Source:

Justia US Law online

https://law.justia.com/cases/colorado/supreme-court/2023/23sa300.html

Majority opinion

 

Source: State of Colorado, Supreme Court Case No. 23SA300pages 6  - 9

Minority Opinions

 

A summary of the 3 dissenting opinions are provided below.

 

I have provided the Judges' names, the source pages from which I copied the 1 - 2 paragraph dissenting opinion summary.

 

Finally, I have provided a 1 sentence "Blogger decision summary"

 

It appears that 2 of the 3 dissenting opinions are on procedure grounds. Colorado election law does not allow the state court system to decide whether a candidate engaged in insurrection or can be disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Maine Secretary of State Decision

This is the 34 page "Ruling of the (State of Maine) Secretary of State".

 

I  used the "OCF" function of the "Wondershare PDF Element" software to colorize important text within 'Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law' and 'Conclusion' sections of the Ruling to highlight important facts which led to the Maine Secretary of State's overall conclusion. 

 

Unfortunately, the conversion process blurred a couple of the underlines from the original text.The obscurities occurred within part D of the 'Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law' section at pages 16, 18, 23, and 26 as:

 

  pg 16:  1. "Section 337 is an appropriate process by which to adjudicate a candidate qualification challenge based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment."

  pg 18:  2. "Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment Is Self-Executing Without Congressional Action and Applies to the President".

  pg 23:  3. "The record demonstrates that the events of January 6, 2021 were an insurrection."

  pg 26:  4. "The record demonstrates that Mr. Trump engaged in the insurrection of January 6, 2021."

 

Section 337 falls under 21-A M.R. S. (M. R. S. = Maine Revised Statutes; 21-A refers to Elections)

 

  Section 337 as well as Sections 336 and 443 are described in the Legal Requirements section of the Ruling.

 

"APA" as stated in the below is a reference to the Maine Administrative Procedure Act.

NPR (National Public Radio) interviewed the Maine Secretary of State concerning her decision to disqualify Trump from Maine's primary ballot. Below is the article based on the interview.

 

To listen to the interview, please click on this link:

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/02/1222389987/donald-trump-maine-election-ballot-2024-supreme-court