Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested on Monday that his state should consider removing President Joe Biden from the 2024 ballot after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled earlier in the day to take former President Donald Trump off that state’s ballot, citing the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment.
“Seeing what happened in Colorado tonight…makes me think—except we believe in democracy in Texas—maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history,” Patrick said.
His comments came during a discussion about a bill the state legislature is working on to allow for the arrest of people who cross illegally into the U.S. through the Lone Star State.
Earlier on Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court removed Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot after determining that he is an ineligible candidate under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.”
The verdict was 4–3.
The decision in Colorado will remain on hold until January 4th, when an appeal is considered.
The nation hopes that the US Supreme Court will hear the case and reach a final decision by then.
The landmark decision will shake up the presidential race of 2024, even though it only applies to Colorado. Officials in Colorado’s election office have stated that a resolution is required by January 5, the statutory deadline for determining the Republican primary contenders.
Post-Civil War ratification of the 14th Amendment prohibits “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office for officials who pledge allegiance to the Constitution. Aside from its ambiguous language and lack of specific reference to the presidency, this provision has seen only two applications since 1919.
Democratic governors of Colorado appointed all seven justices to the state’s highest court. To remain on the bench, six of the seven judges went on to win statewide retention elections. The seventh has not yet been put to the vote since she was appointed in 2021.
Trump has condemned the 14th Amendment litigation as an abuse of the judicial process and denies any wrongdoing about January 6. He has entered a not-guilty plea to federal and state charges related to his efforts to reverse the 2020 election.
While running for the Republican nomination in 2024, Trump has criticized the lawsuits and claimed they are an effort to use the courts to prevent him from running again.
Before the unprecedented ruling, a lengthy list of parties, including over a dozen attorneys general from states controlled by Republicans, have filed briefs in a legal challenge to the constitutional eligibility of Trump to appear on Colorado’s 2024 ballot.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted the decision and posted responses from several conservative and legal experts who were shocked that the Colorado court took the action it did.
“This is ELECTION RIGGING…This is an effort, make no mistake, to deprive American voters of their right to make the decision as to who should be president. It is anti-democratic. It’s the equivalent of rigging the ballot box,” Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said.
“They don’t want the voters to decide this…there is obviously this deep fear of Donald Trump potentially winning the White House back,” Ned Ryun, the founder and CEO of the conservative American Majority organization.
“Democrats in Colorado are so afraid of allowing American voters to vote and pick the next president they are willing to do extra-judicial things in order to thwart the people’s choice from being on the ballot,” Fox contributor Charlie Hurt added. “To them, preserving democracy requires destroying democracy.”
Constitutional law professor and expert Jonathan Turley noted as well: “This country is a powder keg and this court is just throwing matches at it…for people that say they are trying to protect democracy, this is hands down the most anti-democratic opinion I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
