Court Battles

RNC, NRCC file brief in support of Trump challenge to Colorado ballot decision

Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Windham High School in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 8, 2023. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) have filed a brief in support of former President Trump’s challenge to the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to kick him off the ballot under the 14th Amendment.

“The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision is historically implausible,” reads the brief, filed Friday.

The brief claims that the Colorado Supreme Court made “a slew of legal errors” in its interpretation of the law. Among the assertions made is that, “The President is not an ‘officer of the United States’ because that phrase never includes the President in the Constitution.”

The joint brief also condemned other states for taking similar measures against the former president.

“The Colorado Supreme Court was the first to take the bait,” the brief reads. “It should have taken the other path.”

On the same day, the RNC and NRCC filed the brief, the Supreme Court decided to take up the question of whether Trump could not make it on Colorado’s ballot due to his actions relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

“We welcome a fair hearing at the Supreme Court to argue against the bad-faith, election-interfering, voter-suppressing, Democrat-backed and Biden-led, 14th Amendment abusing decision to remove President Trump’s name from the 2024 ballot in the state of Colorado,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.