POLL | Was Colorado court fair to bar Donald Trump from running for US presidency?

The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to ban former US president Donald Trump from running in the 2024 presidential elections has been criticised by some, who say it was not a fair ruling.

The court ruled on Tuesday Trump cannot appear on the primary ballot in Colorado because of his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

The 4-3 ruling by the court, which is likely to be taken up by the US Supreme Court, makes Trump the first presidential candidate deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used constitutional provision that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

The ruling applies only to Colorado's March 5 Republican primary but it could affect Trump's status in the state for the November 5 general election. Non-partisan US election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic, meaning President Joe Biden is likely to carry the state regardless of Trump's fate.

Trump vowed to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court and the Colorado court said it would delay the effect of its decision until at least January 4 2024 to allow an appeal.

Social media users on X debated the fairness of the ruling, with one user saying: “We can all agree what Democrats are doing to this man is un-American. I stand with Donald Trump.”

TimesLIVE and Reuters