The FBI and Denver law enforcement are investigating threats and “incidents” aimed at Colorado’s supreme court justices in the wake of their ruling last week deeming former president Donald Trump ineligible to appear on the state’s 2024 ballots.
“The Denver Police 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 department’s media-relations unit said in an email to National Review.
The department declined to provide details of its investigation, but said it “is providing extra patrols around justice’s residences in Denver and will provide additional safety support if/as requested.”
The FBI similarly told National Review that it is “aware of the situation,” and is “working with local law enforcement” to investigate threats against the justices. “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,” an FBI spokeswoman said.
Last week, Colorado’s supreme court, in a 4–3 decision, ruled that Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency again due to his role in stirring up his supporters ahead of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The court ruled that Trump is barred from the presidency for violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The decision will be stayed until January 4, pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s team has vowed to appeal the ruling.
“Unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s spokesman, said in a prepared statement. “The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision. We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits.”
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) December 19, 2023
CNN reported on Monday that the names of the four Colorado justices who disqualified Trump from the state’s ballots have appeared frequently on extremist online forums, with calls to expose their personal data, according to an analysis prepared by a non-partisan research organization for law enforcement. The analysis found no specific threats to any of the judges, CNN reported, but one poster on a pro-Trump website wrote, “All [expletive] robed rats must [expletive] hang.”