Trump Warns SCOTUS Failure to Crush Ballot Elimination Challenges 'Would Unleash Chaos and Chaos'

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump challenged the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that he was ineligible for the state's ballot, warning the U.S. Supreme Court in a filing not to overturn the ruling it would lead to electoral unrest.

The Supreme Court of Colorado governed Trump was disqualified from appearing in the 2024 election in a 4-3 decision on Dec. 19, nine days before Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows of Maine declared Trump is also ineligible to appear on his state's ballot. Trump's lawyers noted that more than 60 lawsuits had been filed to bar Trump from the ballot.

“The Court should swiftly and decisively end these ballot disqualification efforts, which threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans and promise to unleash chaos and confusion if other state courts and state officials follow suit. example of Colorado and exclude the likely Republican presidential candidate from their ballots,” Trump's lawyers told the brief.

Hundreds of people he stormed the Capitol building during the certification of electoral votes on January 6, 2021.

“The Court should also reverse because nothing President Trump did in response to the 2020 election or on January 6, 2021, even remotely qualifies as 'insurrection,'” they said Trump's lawyers in the brief. “No prosecutor has sought to charge President Trump with sedition under 28 USC § 2383 in the three years since January 6, 2021, despite President Trump's relentless and ongoing investigations. And for good reason: the words of President Trump that day called for peaceful, patriotic protest and respect for law and order.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith make sure a four-count indictment against Trump related to his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election in August on charges that included conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to interfere with the right to vote and have the vote counted, and conspiracy for obstructing and corruptly obstructing the proceedings of January 6. Smith did not accuse Trump of sedition.

“President Trump never told his supporters to enter the Capitol, and he did not direct, direct, or encourage any of the illegal acts that occurred at the Capitol, either in his speech on the Ellipse or in any of the his statements or communications before or during the events of January 6, 2021,” the brief from Trump's lawyers said. “President Trump also sent out tweets throughout the day telling his supporters to 'keep the peace' and”[s]keep calm', and posted a video telling the crowd to 'go home now'.”

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