A Republican Senate group weighed in to support former President Trump in his effort to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove his name from the state’s primary ballot on Wednesday.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, chaired by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., argued that the court overstepped its authority in its December ruling. Trump himself has appealed the issue to the Supreme Court of the United States.
“Even if the Colorado Supreme Court were correct that President Trump cannot take office on Inauguration Day, that court had no basis to hold that he cannot run for office,” the committee said in its court filing.
Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court, in a 4-3 vote, overturned a lower court ruling that allowed Trump to appear on the ballot as a presidential candidate. In their opinion, the justices on the state’s high court wrote that Trump “incited and encouraged” the use of violence to prevent the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, when many of his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol.
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In a Wednesday filing, Trump’s lawyers urged the high court to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court ruling and “return the right to vote for their candidate of choice to the voters.”
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The words from Trump’s legal team echoed arguments from Justice Carlos Samour, one of three Democrat-appointed justices on the Colorado court who dissented from the decision.
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“The decision to bar former President Donald J. Trump — by all accounts the current leading Republican presidential candidate (and reportedly the current leading overall presidential candidate) — from Colorado’s presidential primary ballot flies in the face of the due process doctrine,” Samour wrote at the time.
“Even if we are convinced that a candidate committed horrible acts in the past — dare I say, engaged in insurrection — there must be procedural due process before we can declare that individual disqualified from holding public office,” he added.
Trump has also received an endorsement from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., though Daines is the only member of GOP Senate leadership to endorse the former president.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano, Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report
