179 Congressional Republicans File Brief Supporting Trump in Colorado Case Before SCOTUS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Over two-thirds of congressional Republicans are coming to the defense of former President Donald Trump amidst challenges to his presidential eligibility, filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the four-time indicted candidate on the primary ballot in Colorado.
The Colorado Supreme Court previously ruled that Trump was disqualified from the presidency under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. That decision is now paused after Trump appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has taken the case in full and will hold oral argument in early February.
The 179-member brief, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) makes numerous claims as to why Trump can’t be removed from the state’s ballot. Among them, the Republicans — consisting of 42 senators and 137 representatives — claim that Trump did not engage in an insurrection, writing that “”[i]t is hard to imagine an actual insurrectionist quickly asking for peace and encouraging disbandment.”
The brief also argues that the Colorado Supreme Court “raced past numerous textual and structural limitations on Section 3” and trampled “the prerogatives of members of Congress.” In a press release, Scalise further alleged that the Colorado Supreme Court has “no authority to remove President Trump from the ballot in the 2024 presidential election.”
The brief was filed with the assistance of the America First Legal Foundation, a law group led by Stephen Miller, a close Trump ally.
A host of other Republicans have also filed amicus briefs in the case defending Trump, including 25 of the country’s 28 Republican attorneys general. The Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee likewise filed a brief in support of the former president. Eleven Republican secretaries of state also filed a brief arguing that secretaries of state do not have legal authority to disqualify presidential candidates.