By Katelynn Richardson
Twenty-seven states urged the Supreme Court Friday to reverse a ruling kicking former President Donald Trump off Colorado’s ballot.
The states, led by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, wrote in an amicus brief that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision “threatens to throw the 2024 presidential election into chaos.” Both the Colorado Republican Party and Trump have already appealed the ruling.
“Now that the Colorado court has intruded into an arena where courts previously have feared to tread, swift intervention is essential,” the states told the Supreme Court, noting “conflict and chaos is already setting in.”
“Voters who may wish to cast their ballots for former President Trump cannot know whether he ultimately will be excluded from the ballot in their State or others,” the brief states. “They may wonder whether a little non-mutual offensive collateral estoppel is all it takes for former President Trump to be excluded from ballots across the Nation.”
BREAKING: The WV AG is co-leading an amicus brief with Indiana, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal from Colorado decision that kept former Pres. Donald Trump off the ballot for that state’s Presidential Primary Elections.
READ ALL ABOUT IT: https://t.co/5TTQjn2DET pic.twitter.com/bf07SHPFVS
— WV Attorney General (@WestVirginiaAG) January 5, 2024
States that joined the brief include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the Arizona state legislature.
“Trust in the integrity of our elections is essential to a free republic,” Rokita said in a statement. “If activist judges in Colorado can dilute the voices of ordinary voters in states like Indiana, all confidence in our election process will be lost.”
Since the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling was appealed, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is required to include Trump’s name on the ballot unless the justices say otherwise before the ballot certification deadline on Jan. 5.
Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also ruled Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot on Dec. 28. Trump appealed the ruling in state court on Tuesday.
