Vivek Ramaswamy Urges Supreme Court to Reverse Colorado Decision Keeping Trump off 2024 Ballot

Businessman and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Colorado Supreme Court decision removing Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballot.

Ramaswamy argued in a 40-page amicus brief filed Thursday that Trump, his GOP primary opponent, should remain on the ballot.

"Arguably, the inclusion of a strong competitor on state primary ballots will make it harder for Mr. Ramaswamy to win the Republican nomination," the first-time candidate's attorneys argued in the brief. "But he still opposes partisan efforts to disqualify President Trump because of the effect that such a decision will have on the voters whose support they are both courting. Vigorous political competition ultimately benefits voters more than the candidates permitted to compete for their support."

Trump holds a commanding lead in national GOP primary polls, with Ramaswamy polling in the single digits behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to decide whether Trump is disqualified from appearing on presidential primary ballots under a Constitutional provision barring former officials who “engaged in insurrection” from again holding office.

At issue in the latest Supreme Court case development is Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, a post-Civil War provision that bars anyone who previously took an oath of office from having "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" or having "given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

To date, two U.S. states that count primary ballots on March 5, otherwise known as Super Tuesday, have found Trump constitutionally ineligible under that provision.

The Supreme Court of Colorado found, by a 4-3 majority, that Trump engaged in insurrection under “any definition” of the word, and Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said her “sacred obligation” compelled her to “uphold the Constitution” by blocking the former president from the ballot.,

Briefs are due from the former president's lawyers by Jan. 18 and by the Colorado plaintiffs by Jan. 31 in advance of oral arguments on Feb. 8, the court said in its order last week announcing it would take the case.

Ramaswamy said in his brief Thursday that there are "strong textual and structural reasons for rejecting the Colorado Supreme Court's reading of Section 3," arguing that that the section "has never been understood to include the President of the United States."

Per the specifics of Colorado’s ruling, Trump’s name is temporarily back on the GOP ballot and the state supreme court’s decision is stayed amid the U.S. Supreme Court's consideration of the case.