Does kicking a popular candidate off the electoral ballot protect democracy? Or is that in fact deeply anti-democratic?
These are the questions that many Americans are pondering today after Colorado’s Supreme Court voted four to three to block Donald Trump from running in its state in the election next year, citing the insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
The ruling is a clear attempt to establish that Trump, by ‘inciting an insurrection’ on January 6, is persona non grata in American elections
The court’s decision refers only to Colorado’s primary on March 5. But, if upheld, the ruling would almost certainly apply to the presidential election on November 5.
Donald Trump is probably not going to win in Colorado — he lost comfortably in the state to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and to Joe Biden in 2020 — but that’s not the point. The ruling is a clear attempt to establish that Trump, by ‘inciting an insurrection’ on January 6, is persona non grata in American elections according to the Constitution.
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