Independent presidential candidate and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wagging a warning finger and calling for a reversal of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to keep Donald Trump off the state’s ballot.
Kennedy’s statement comes after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that former US President Donald Trump cannot appear on the state’s primary ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election – a decision that the Republican front-runner has unsurprisingly vowed to appeal.
The lawsuit against Trump was initiated by six Democratic activists, who argue that he has no right to run for the White House under a section of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (adopted in 1865 after the Civil War), a tactic Democratic activists have used in several states.
The reason given is that Donald Trump is allegedly guilty of using the vague term “insurrection” against the US government. Democrats have chosen to use the term “insurrection” to describe the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, even though no one – including Trump – has been charged with a crime.
Democratic judges ruled
Four Colorado Supreme Court justices, all Democrats, agreed that Trump has no right to be on the ballot in the state’s primary, resulting in a 4-3 ruling against him. The decision comes just one month after a lower court in Colorado issued a similar ruling in the same case.
Trump, whose involvement in the January 6 events is also under federal investigation, strongly denies any allegations of wrongdoing and argues that the courts do not have the right to remove candidates from the ballot under the US Constitution.
Trump blocked from the ballot in Colorado. When a court in another country disqualifies an opposition candidate from running, we say, “That’s not a real democracy.” Now it’s happening here.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) December 20, 2023
“Democracy 101”
Commenting on the ruling, Robert F. Kennedy said that people should be deeply concerned about the court’s decision.
– Every American should be troubled by the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove President Trump from the ballot, he said.
He pointed out that the court “deprived Trump of an obvious right without convicting him of a crime and without a proper trial”.
– When any candidate is deprived of his right to run, the American people are deprived of their right to choose, Kennedy said.
Robert Kennedy hopes that the court’s decision will be quickly reversed, so as not to give the impression that the establishment itself is choosing the president by manipulating the legal system.
– If Trump is kept out of office through judicial fiat rather than being defeated in a fair election, his supporters will never accept the result, he added. This country will become ungovernable. It’s time to trust the voters. It is up to the people to decide who the best candidate is. Not the courts. The people. That’s Democracy 101, Kennedy emphasized.
If Trump is kept out of office through judicial fiat rather than being defeated in a fair election, his supporters will never accept the result. This country will become ungovernable.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) December 20, 2023
The court’s decision has drawn strong reactions from Trump supporters and other Republicans. Many of Trump’s supporters have vowed to defy the court order and put his name on the ballot anyway. Ballots that, if discovered, the Colorado Supreme Court has ordered the state’s secretary of state not to certify.
Dave Williams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, is considering withdrawing from the primary altogether in protest of the court’s decision. Other Republican candidates are considering similar actions.
