Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a coalition of attorneys general to support former President Donald Trump’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to appear on the Colorado ballot after he was removed last year.
The court brief, filed Friday, January 5, argues that the Supreme Court’s immediate intervention in the case is required because the situation has the potential to spark widespread chaos across the country.
“Most obviously, it casts confusion into an election cycle that is just weeks away,” it reads. “Beyond that, it upsets the respective roles of the Congress, the States, and the courts.”
Regarding accusations that Trump incited an insurrection, the coalition also argues that the Colorado court created a definition of “insurrection” that was vague.
Their brief further states that “The best available evidence suggests that insurrection equates with rebellion—a more demanding standard than the Colorado Court settled on. But what constitutes insurrection is not a question courts should answer at all.”
At issue is the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to utilize the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and January 6 to disqualify Trump from serving as president. The insurrection clause bars a person who has sworn an oath to defend the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection from holding public office.
Paxton was joined by the attorneys general from Indiana, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Wyoming, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
In a one-page order, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear Trump’s case on why he should not be removed from the Colorado ballot. The Colorado Secretary of State has placed Trump on the ballot due to the appeal in the meantime. Oral arguments are set to take place on February 8 of this year.
In response to the removal of Trump from the 2024 Colorado ballot, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in December that maybe Texas ought to kick President Joe Biden from the 2024 Texas ballot, in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
“We’re fed up,” he said. “In fact, seeing what happened in Colorado tonight, Laura, makes me think—except we believe in democracy in Texas—maybe we should take Joe Biden off of the ballot in Texas for allowing eight million people to cross the border since he’s been president.”
Texas Scorecard reached out to Paxton and Patrick for comment but did not receive responses before publication.
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