Supreme Court will hear appeal of Trump ballot disqualification in Colorado

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal challenging a court ruling that disqualified former President Donald Trump from appearing on the Republican primary ballot in Colorado due to his incitement of the 2021 Capitol riot.

The Supreme Court said it will hear oral arguments in the case on Feb. 8.

Colorado's Republican primary is scheduled to be held March 5. Trump is by far the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.

Colorado's own state Supreme Court in a Dec. 19 ruling upheld a trial court judge's decision barring Trump from the primary ballot due to a provision in the U.S. Constitution.

Plaintiffs in that case had successfully argued that Trump was disqualified from being a presidential candidate because he had spurred the insurrection that sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

Section 3 of the Constitution's 14th Amendment says "no person" can serve as an officer of the U.S. who, having previously taken an oath of federal office, "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S.

The state Supreme Court's ruling was on hold since it was issued to give Trump or the Colorado Republican Party time to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the decision. The state party did that last week and Trump followed suit Wednesday.

Colorado was the first state to block Trump from a ballot due to his efforts to reverse his loss to Biden. The secretary of state of Maine last week disqualified Trump from the Republican primary there on those grounds.