The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday disqualified former President Donald Trump from the ballot in the state’s presidential election next year over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

The ruling makes Trump the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to be deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used provision of the U.S. Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

The court concluded that the U.S. Constitution bars the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 from appearing on the ballot because of his role instigating violence against the U.S. government.

The ruling applies only to the state’s March 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion would likely also affect Trump’s status for the Nov. 5 general election. Nonpartisan U.S. election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic, meaning that President Joe Biden will likely carry the state regardless of Trump’s fate.

The case was brought by a group of Colorado voters, aided by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who argued that Trump should be disqualified for inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol in a failed attempt to obstruct the transfer of presidential power to Biden after the 2020 election.

Trump’s campaign called the court decision “flawed” and “undemocratic,” and said it would be appealed.

“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,” a spokesperson from the Trump campaign said.

Trump’s campaign has condemned 14th Amendment challenges as an attempt to deny millions of voters their preferred choice for president.

The decision is a victory for advocacy groups and anti-Trump voters who have mounted several similar legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War.

The decision reverses a ruling by a lower court judge who found Trump engaged in insurrection by inciting his supporters to violence, but, as president, Trump was not an “officer of the United States” who could be disqualified under the amendment.

A lawyer for Trump argued that the riot at the Capitol was not serious enough to qualify as an insurrection and that Trump’s remarks to his supporters in Washington that day were protected by his right to free speech. The lawyer contended that courts do not have the authority to order Trump removed from the ballot.

Advocates have hoped to use the case to boost a wider disqualification effort and potentially put the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees.

The Colorado court said the ruling is stayed until Jan. 4, 2024, to allow for appeals.

“The court’s decision today affirms what our clients alleged in this lawsuit: that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist who disqualified himself from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment based on his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and that Secretary Griswold must keep him off of Colorado’s primary ballot. It is not only historic and justified, but is necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former US president Donald Trump has been disqualified from contesting the Colorado primary polls for next year’s presidential elections over his role in the Capitol riots by his supporters. This essential means that the court has found the former US President to be ineligible for the White House. Trump is the first presidential candidate in US history to face such an action.

The order invoked a rarely used provision in the US Constitution that disallows officials from holding office if they are involved in “insurrection or rebellion.”

Trump’s campaign spokesperson has called the decision “completely flawed” and vowed to appeal the ruling. “We will swiftly file an appeal to the US Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,” a statement said.

The order is put on hold till January 4 to allow an appeal to the Supreme Court.

What this ruling means

Trump’s disqualification means it would be wrongful under election laws to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot in Colorado. No votes cast in his name will be counted as well, the order states.

The court order applies only to the March 5 primary elections to be held by the Republican Party. However, its conclusion could impact the general election for the President set for November 5.

Colorado is viewed as a safe state for the Democrats and Trump’s fate there is unlikely to affect the Dems, according to nonpartisan US election forecasters.

The former president is set to appeal the order in the Supreme Court, where the conservatives have a 6-3 majority, including three Trump appointees.

The Colorado Supreme Court order reverses a low court ruling that found him inciting his supporters for the insurrection, but said as a president he was not an “officer of the United States” who could be disqualified.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed pain over an Opposition MP mimicking the Rajya Sabha Chairman, but told him that the insults won’t stop him from performing his duties.

Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee was seen mimicking the Rajya Sabha chairman outside the parliament yesterday after several opposition MPs were suspended following an uproar over the recent security breach. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was noticed filming the act.

Received a telephone call from the Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi Ji. He expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some Honourable MPs and that too in the sacred Parliament complex yesterday. He told me that he has been at the receiving end of such insults for twenty…

— Vice President of India (@VPIndia) December 20, 2023

“Received a telephone call from the Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi Ji. He expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some Honourable MPs and that too in the sacred Parliament complex yesterday. He told me that he has been at the receiving end of such insults for twenty years and counting but the fact that it could happen to a Constitutional office like the Vice President of India and that too in the Parliament was unfortunate,” Mr Dhankhar wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“I told him- Mr. Prime Minister, the antics of a few won’t prevent me from performing my duty and upholding the principles enshrined in our Constitution. I am committed to those values from the bottom of my heart. None of the insults will make me change my path,” he added.