Donald Trump barred from Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary ballot

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Donald Trump has been disqualified from Colorado’s Republican presidential primary ballot due to his involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in a legal ruling that could have significant implications for the 2024 race.

The Colorado supreme court on Tuesday said Trump was not fit to be president under the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits US officers who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding office.

The decision is the latest legal setback for Trump as he fights a number of challenges across the country, including criminal and civil cases, while seeking to secure a second term in the White House. While its direct consequences will be limited to ballots in Colorado, it could set up a fierce battle before the US Supreme Court with far-reaching ramifications.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the Colorado justices wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favour, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

The decision stems from a case brought earlier this year from a group of Colorado voters who claimed Trump had engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021, when a group of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in presidential polls. 

The seven-member Colorado court voted 4-3 that Trump should be disqualified. The majority found that evidence presented to it “established that President Trump engaged in insurrection”.

“President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterised as an alleged fraud on the people of…