Missouri officials react to Colorado’s ballot ruling on Trump

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Colorado Supreme Court ruled former U.S. President Donald Trump ineligible to run for the White House again under the Constitution’s insurrection clause.

Tuesday’s declaration is a first-of-its-kind and could remove him from the state’s presidential primary ballot next year. The Trump campaign says it plans to appeal.

Missouri’s top election officials said Wednesday that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision declaring former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House is wrong. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said Missouri will reject what happened in Colorado, saying the decision will be left to the people of this state.

At the same time, the state’s top leader, Gov. Mike Parson told reporters that the ruling only causes more division among Americans.

Across the aisle, the Missouri Senate’s top Democrat wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

“You’re tugging at the strings of the U.S. Constitution and saying they shouldn’t apply because of one person,” Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said. “That’s a scary thing.”

Less than 24 hours after Colorado’s highest court decided to remove Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Missouri officials are speaking out.

“Why do I care about what a Colorado Supreme Court has done? Normally I don’t, but my concern is such a pronouncement in Colorado causes confusion regarding the presidential nominating process in the general election that we will have next year and I don’t like that,” Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft, a Republican candidate for governor, said Wednesday to a group of reporters that Trump will be on Missouri’s November ballot if voters select him as the GOP nominee for president. He went on to say it’s unclear if the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution covers the presidency.

“The Supreme Court is not going to uphold it because they would have to go against the plain language in the United States Constitution, and then we would not have a nation of laws,” Ashcroft said. “Judges, their job is to say what the law is, not what they want it to be.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Parson said this decision is not what the country needs right now.

“When you start doing things like that, all you’re doing is creating more of a division,” Parson said. “We all know that was more of a political statement than it was anything. My guess is the Supreme Court will overrule that very quickly.”

Rizzo said as the country wrestles with democracy, the nation’s highest court needs to decide if the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race.

“I think that the response to every loss that the Republicans have had is to go to court and become litigious like Donald Trump and lose like they have over and over again,” Rizzo said. If we’re going to have the conversation, it needs to be, do we feel that Trump violated that portion of the constitution. I can understand why the state of Colorado did what they did. I can also understand why people believe it needs to be remedied before the Supreme Court because I think it does.”

Ashcroft said so far, there’s no legal challenge in Missouri to block Trump from being on the ballot, like there is in at least 15 other states.

Unlike years past, there’s no longer a presidential primary in Missouri. Instead, caucuses will determine each party’s presidential nominee in March. In a caucus, members of each political party meet and divide into groups according to which candidate they want to win. Then, the number of votes in each group decides how many delegates each candidate wins.

Other Missouri elected officials also chimed in about the ruling:

In Missouri, many elected officials chimed in about the recent developments:

Bailey offered the following comments Tuesday via Twitter:

“Colorado has ruled that President Trump can be barred from the 2024 presidential ballot.

This is a violation of the rule of law and the character of our nation.

This undermines Missourians’ votes for President. We stand ready to defend the rule of law.”

Schmitt offered the following comments Tuesday via Twitter:

“The veil has been lifted.

“2024 isn’t just an election between two candidates — it’s about reclaiming our Republic from radical Leftist hellbent on absolute power and control.

“The Democrats are perfectly willing to jail opponents, kick them off the ballot, censor speech, add states to the union and open up our border for raw political power.

“They will justify anything because…Trump.

“There is simply no limiting principle to this.

“It’s madness.

“Real Americans see right through this and it will backfire.”

Colorado Supreme Court

“A majority of the court holds that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” the court wrote in its 4-3 decision.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” wrote the court’s majority. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

The court says it made the decision based on Trump’s role during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The full ruling is available here via PBS.org.

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