The Colorado Supreme Court justices who ruled that former President Donald Trump is banned from the 2024 presidential ballot are facing threats and harassment from his supporters, according to a CNN report.
The report said that the names of the four justices who joined the majority opinion in the case have appeared frequently in “incendiary” online posts in extremist forums, some of which called for violence against them, as per Law and Crime on Tuesday, December 26, 2023.
The FBI and the Denver Police Department are investigating the incidents and providing extra security for the justices, who are reportedly under extra protection.
The Colorado Judicial Department declined to comment on the situation, citing safety and privacy considerations.
The high court’s ruling, issued on December 15, reversed a lower court’s decision that Section III of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – which bars people who have violated an oath to uphold the Constitution from serving in public office – did not apply to presidents.
The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Brian Boatright, said that Trump “engaged in an insurrection” by taking steps to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win, such as pressuring state officials, filing lawsuits, and inciting the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The opinion said that Trump’s actions “demonstrated a fundamental hostility to, and rejection of, the constitutional order and rule of law” and that allowing him to run for president again would “undermine the integrity of our constitutional system.”
The ruling was a narrow one, with four of the seven justices joining in the majority opinion.
Each of the remaining three justices wrote a separate dissent, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction, that the case was moot, or that the interpretation of Section III was incorrect.
All of the justices were appointed by Democratic governors. It’s not the first time that a judicial ruling seen as not in the former president’s favor has sparked threats.
In August, Texas woman Abigail Jo Shry was arrested for leaving a threatening, racist voicemail for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s federal election subversion case in Washington, D.C.
Chutkan, who is Black, received the call days after Trump was indicted by a grand jury on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, and witness tampering.
Trump himself made a law clerk a target after publicly criticizing the lead law clerk in the courtroom of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York.
Trump’s repeated comments about the clerk have resulted in fines imposed on the former president for repeatedly violating Engoron’s gag order.
