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Colorado police are working with the FBI to investigate threats directed at justices of the state’s supreme court after its decision to remove Donald Trump from the presidential primary ballot.
The court voted 4-3 last week that the former president was ineligible to run for the White House again, citing a rarely used clause in the US constitution and his role in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Trump has since lashed out at the ruling, which has launched a firestorm among Republicans and set up a legal showdown in 2024.
On Tuesday, the Denver police department told the Associated Press that they are providing extra patrols around the homes of justices in Denver. The department declined in an email to provide details about its investigations, citing safety and privacy considerations and because they are ongoing.
The department “is currently investigating incidents directed at Colorado supreme court justices and will continue working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate any reports of threats or harassment”, the email said.
Officers responded to the home of one justice on Thursday evening, but police said it appeared to be a “hoax report”.
That case is also still being investigated, police said. The FBI said it was working with local law enforcement on the matter.
“We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation,” Vikki Migoya, a spokesperson for the Denver FBI office, said in a statement.
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Officials are also monitoring online extremist forums for threats to the four justices who voted in favor of denying Trump a spot on the state’s ballot, CNN reported.
The US constitution’s insurrection clause bars anyone from Congress, the military, and federal and state offices who once took an oath to uphold the constitution but then “engaged” in “insurrection or rebellion” against it.
The decision by Colorado’s highest court overturned an earlier ruling from a district court judge, who found that Trump incited an insurrection for his role in the January 6 but could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that US Constitution’s insurrection clause was intended to cover the presidency.
The state’s highest court didn’t agree, siding with attorneys for six Colorado Republican and unaffiliated voters who argued that it was nonsensical to imagine that the framers of the amendment, fearful of former confederates returning to power, would bar them from low-level offices but not the highest one in the land.
The court stayed its decision until 4 January, or until the US supreme court rules on the case. Colorado officials say the issue must be settled by 5 January, the deadline for the state to print its presidential primary ballots.
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