The Daily Fuckup

The Colorado Supreme Court entered the year-end fight over Donald Trump’s ballot access with a ruling that did two things at once: it found Trump disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, then froze its own order while the case moved toward Washington. The court issued its decision on Dec. 19, 2023, and set the stay to run until Jan. 4, 2024, unless the U.S. Supreme Court acted sooner. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-696.html))

The ruling came out of a challenge brought by Colorado voters. In its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Colorado Republican State Central Committee described the state court’s decision as a split 4-3 ruling that held Trump was disqualified as an insurrectionist, while also noting that the Colorado court stayed its opinion when the cert petition was filed. The petition said the lower state court had rejected disqualification, but the Colorado Supreme Court reversed, holding that Section 3 applies to the presidency and is self-executing. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-696/294451/20231228124338434_Colorado-Republican-State-Central-Committee-v.-Anderson-Cert-Petition-request%20to%20expedite%20FINAL%20PDFA.pdf))

The docket at the U.S. Supreme Court shows the timing clearly. The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision date was Dec. 19, 2023. The cert petition was filed on Dec. 27, 2023, and the case was docketed two days later, on Dec. 28. The petition for review was later dismissed as moot in March 2024, after the presidential primary calendar had already moved on. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-696.html))

For the moment at the end of 2023, Trump was not immediately removed from the ballot because the Colorado court had stayed enforcement of its order. But the merits ruling still landed hard: it made Section 3, not just campaign politics, the central legal issue in Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary fight. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-696.html))