On Monday, October 30, a trial begins in Colorado to determine whether former US President Donald Trump will be disqualified from the 2024 election due to his alleged role in the deadly attack on the Capitol aimed at keeping him in office.
Trump is facing similar lawsuits filed by human rights groups in Michigan and Minnesota, but the Colorado case is the first to go to trial.
Trump denies any involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a crowd of his supporters who wanted to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election.
According to opinion polls, Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, and is expected to have a rematch with Biden next year.
His opponents hope to deprive Trump of a path to victory by disqualifying him, but many legal experts say this strategy is unlikely.
These cases raise largely untested legal issues, and even if the plaintiffs prevail, the final word is likely to rest with the US Supreme Court, which is dominated by a conservative majority that includes three Trump appointees.
The lawsuit in Colorado seeks to prohibit the state’s chief election official from putting Trump on the ballot.
Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace has denied five separate motions by Trump and his allies to dismiss the case, most recently on October 25, when she rejected Trump’s argument that courts do not have the authority to determine the eligibility of an individual to be elected to office.
What is known about Trump’s lawsuits
Trump faced several court cases during his presidential campaign. The trial in the civil fraud case brought by the State of New York against Trump and his family company is in its fourth week.
He has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges, including federal cases related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, and to the removal and mishandling of classified government documents when he left office in January 2021.
