A judge in Colorado has rejected an attempt to stop former President Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican presidential primary in the state
It ends a landmark trial over a lawsuit that argued Mr Trump’s actions leading up to the 2021 Capitol riot renders him ineligible to hold office again.
Similar challenges, based on a US Civil War-era constitutional amendment, have also failed in three other states.
Mr Trump, who did not appear at the hearing, has dismissed the effort.
District Judge Sarah Wallace issued the ruling on Friday, requiring that the Colorado secretary of state place Mr Trump on the state’s primary ballot next year.
Section three of the 14th Amendment bars from office those who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it
.A group of Colorado voters filed a legal challenge in September, arguing the amendment should apply to Mr Trump and his involvement in the 2021 riot at the US Capitol.
The ruling is the latest setback for efforts to disqualify Mr Trump from the Republican primary election.
Similar lawsuits in New Hampshire, Minnesota and Michigan have already failed.
It comes after a week-long bench trial, during which lawyers for the group of voters who filed the challenge argued Mr Trump had lost the right to run for president again because of his role in the 6 January Capitol riots.
It is unclear if future challenges to Mr Trump’s name on the ballot will emerge in Colorado or other states ahead of the Republican primary and the general election.
Legal experts believe the case – or another like it – is likely to end up before the US Supreme Court.
