TRANSCRIPT
The Supreme Court of Colorado has made a historic decision to ban former President Donald Trump from having his name on the state's ballots in the upcoming elections.
The justices, who were all voted in by Democratic governors, reached a divided 4-3 verdict in favour of the ban to exclude the Republican.
The case was brought to the Colorado Supreme Court by a number of the state's voters who claimed Trump should not be allowed to participate in the elections following his role in the January 6, 2021 attacks on the Capitol.
Special counsel Jack Smith describes the incidents that occurred that day as an attack on U-S democracy.
"The attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies- lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election."
Mr Trump, who faces over four criminal charges, has maintained his stance that this is yet another attempt to thwart his campaign.
"Today, the radical left Democrats and their allies in the fake news media right back there. All those people with the cameras are having an absolute meltdown because last night our campaign won a gigantic court victory in Colorado."
This marks the first time that a candidate for the U-S presidency has been barred under section three of the U-S Constitution's 14th amendment.
The rarely used provision is withheld to block candidates and officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion from taking office.
In their verdict, the majority justices claimed to be mindful of the heavy questions that this decision opens up before them, cognizant that this case lies in uncharted territory.
Political writer Nicholas Riccardi from the Associated Press explains what makes this case so different.
"Because this has never been done before in American history we're really plowing new legal ground here and it's not breaking down on kind of traditional ideological lines. Politically, obviously, Trump is absolutely outraged, but his attorneys make a very strong argument that, look, this is democracy in action. He gets to run again and the voters will decide whether or not he's a threat to the republic. It shouldn't be up to unelected judges to do it. And I think it raises a lot of very challenging questions about the way our country runs and whether or not he should stay on the ballot or not. And that's one of the reasons these cases have been so interesting to watch."
The founder of the Olson Grimsley law firm, who represented the Colorado voters, Eric Olson, praised all those whose efforts lead to what he dubbed as a difficult decision that ensures the law will be followed.
"The courage of the voters who stood up and said, I want the rules to apply, of the judges who didn't choose this case, this case came to them, to look at a hard case with lots of strong feelings, but nonetheless do the hard work of looking at the law, taking evidence and following the facts and the law where it took them, I think really can't be overstated. This is what makes America great, is that we have public servants who do their job, no matter without predetermining the outcome. Our voters got a fair shake in court, just like Donald Trump did, and that's what makes America exceptional."
Following the split verdict by the Colorado Supreme Court, Mr Trump's legal team almost immediately filed an appeal to the U-S Supreme Court.
Colorado officials say the issue must be settled before January 5, which is when the election ballots will go to print.
Chris Christie, one of Mr Trump's rivals for the presidency of the Republican party, says he thinks his opponent has every right to run in the elections.
"I do not believe Donald Trump should be prevented from being president of the United States by any court. I think he should be prevented of being President of the United States by the voters of this country. I think this is probably premature and jumping ahead of it and I think it would cause a lot of anger in this country if people had the choice taken away from them."
Even though Donald Trump doesn't need Colorado to win the election, there is fear that this decision might set a precedent for other states.
The Republican frontrunner continued his campaign from Iowa.
Using his well-known aggressive rhetoric, he has defended previous comments made about the migration issue.
"They're ruining our country. And it's true that destroying the blood of our country, that's what they're doing. They're destroying our country. They don't like it when I said that, and I never read Mein Kampf, they said, Oh, Hitler said that in a much different way."
