Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy oppose US court's decision barring Trump from presidency

Washington DC: Indian-American presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday opposed the Colorado Supreme Court decision to disqualify Donald Trump from the presidency next year in the state because of his role in the attack on the US Capitol in 2021.

The disqualification of the 77-year-old former president on Tuesday was based on the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which says officials who take an oath to support the US Constitution are banned from future office if they "engaged in insurrection."

Trump is currently the front-runner in the Republican Party's nomination process for the race for the White House in 2024. Responding to Trump's disqualification, two-term former South Carolina Governor and a rival to Trump in the Republican primaries, Haley, said that "the last thing we want" is judges deciding who can and cannot be on the presidential ballot. "I will tell you that I don't think Donald Trump needs to be president. I think I need to be president. I think that's good for the country," 51-year-old Haley was quoted as saying by The Des Moines Register newspaper.

"But I will beat him fair and square. We don't need to have judges making these decisions; we need voters to make these decisions," said the former US Ambassador to the UN. "I want to see this in the hands of the voters," Haley said, adding, "We're going to win this the right way; we're going to do what we need to do, but the last thing we want is judges telling us who can and can't be on the ballot."

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy, 38, pledged to withdraw from the Colorado Republican party primary ballot until Trump eligibility is restored. Taking to social media platform X, the biotech entrepreneur called upon other Republican Party primary opponents to take the same stand. "I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot.," he said.

He demanded that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and fellow Indian-American Haley do the same, or else "they are tacitly endorsing this illegal manoeuvre which will have disastrous consequences for our country." Ramaswamy told ABC News that while it would be easier to win without the front-runner in the race, the state's top court ruling against Trump strikes him as "appalling for the future of our country."

"And to tell you the truth, it would be a lot easier for me to get elected if Trump wasn't in this race, but that's not – it's not about me, and it's not about another candidate," Ramaswamy said. "This is wrong. And I think that this is a flagrant violation of the rule of law," he said.

Later, responding to how withdrawing from the ballot would affect his path to the nomination, Ramaswamy predicted that every remaining Republican candidate would follow suit. "I think every Republican will end up withdrawing, which means that won't affect anyone's path to the nomination," he said.

Following Ramaswamy's statement, the Colorado Republican Party responded in a post on X, saying that he would not need to withdraw from the contest because they'd be shifting from the state-run primary to a party-run caucus if the ruling was to stand.

That move, however, would likely trigger a rule change from the Republican National Committee, which has already approved the state party's nomination plan, the report said. The landmark decision from the divided Colorado Supreme Court marks the first time a court has found Trump ineligible to return to the White House due to his conduct surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters, CBS News reported.

The ruling follows a months-long challenge in the state to the former president's ballot eligibility under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which deems former office-holders ineligible from running again if they took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" against the US.

Trump has denied wrongdoing regarding the January 6 insurrection and has decried the 14th Amendment lawsuits as an abuse of the legal process. He is under federal and state indictment linked with his attempts to overturn the 2020 election won by Joe Biden, a Democrat, and he has pleaded not guilty.