The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump is ineligible to run for president because of his actions after the 2020 election, ordering his name to be removed from the ballot ahead of the Republican caucuses in that election. state to nominate their candidate in the November 2024 presidential election.

The state Supreme Court upheld a first-instance court ruling in November that found Donald Trump committed “sedition” on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters attacked the Capitol, ruling that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is applicable in his case then president. However, he suspended the implementation of this decision until January 4, in order to give room for a possible appeal to the federal Supreme Court until then.

The tycoon is the first candidate in American history to be found by a court to be ineligible to run under this rarely used amendment. The text deprives those involved in “mutiny or resistance” of the right to be elected. The Supreme Court cited incitement of the attack by supporters of Mr. Trump on the seat of the US Congress and incitement to violence against the US government.

While the decision currently only affects the state’s Republican caucus (March 5), it may prove decisive more broadly.

Voters in the state — a traditional stronghold of the Democrats — appealed to justice, with the support of the organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington”). They argued that Mr. Trump should be removed from the election process because he instigated an attack by his followers in Congress in order to block the process of transferring power to his successor Joe Biden after the latter wins the 2020 election.

Mr. Trump is virtually certain to appeal to the federal Supreme Court. His group has repeatedly condemned the appeals by invoking the 14th Amendment, which it says is an attempt to deprive millions of Americans of the choice to vote for the candidate of their choice.

A lawyer for the Republican argued in the Colorado Supreme Court that the events at the Capitol were not serious enough to be called a riot or standoff, that the former president’s speech to supporters in Washington before the attack was protected by his right to free speech, which is constitutionally protected, and that the court has no jurisdiction to deny Donald Trump the right to run for office.

If the decision does reach the federal Supreme Court, conservative justices have a decisive majority (6-3) on it, three of which were appointed by Donald Trump.