Trump asks U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate Colorado ruling over his ballot eligibility

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a recent ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which removed him from the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot.

Two weeks ago, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump, who is the 2024 Republican frontrunner, isn't an eligible presidential candidate, with a vote of 4-3. The ruling cited a U.S. constitutional provision prohibiting people who have engaged in "insurrection" from federal office.

Lawsuits in Colorado, as well as some other states, argue that Trump should be disqualified from ballots because he engaged in inciting the Capitol Hill insurrection on Jan. 6 of 2021, in an attempt to block the 2020 presidential election victory of Joe Biden.

The Colorado Supreme Court's ruling marked the first time a U.S. state court agreed that Trump should be disqualified from the 2024 presidential election citing the rarely used insurrection clause.

The Trump campaign said earlier that it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, which would be placed on hold until Jan. 4, one day before the state's primary ballot was to be certified. It was unlikely the high court would resolve the case as quickly as this week, according to a CNN report.

Last week, Maine's Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, barred Trump from the primary ballot, making Maine the second state to block the former president from running again.

Trump appealed the decision in the state court on Tuesday, and could turn to U.S. Supreme Court as well.

Both states hold their primaries on Super Tuesday, March 5, but ballots must be printed "well before then," according to The Washington Post.