US Supreme Court: Trump cannot be removed from Colorado primary

Donald Trump can stay on the ballot in the Republican presidential primaries after the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that removing his name is not legal.

In its decision, the highest US court overturned an earlier ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court, which said Trump should be left off the Colorado ballot because he was implicated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots which the court viewed as insurrection.

That participation, the state court ruled, made him ineligible per a section of the US Constitution.

But the Supreme Court said Colorado does not have jurisdiction in this matter, as the US Constitution does not permit a single state to exclude a presidential candidate from a federal office. That decision "rests with Congress and not the states."

The ruling suggests no state will now try to strike Trump's name off ballots in November's election. Maine had held a similar position to Colorado.

Monday's decision is a day before the super Tuesday primaries, in which voters in more than a dozen states, including Colorado, go to the polls to elect who will compete to become president in November.

Most court observers did not expect the Supreme Court to confirm the Colorado decision and keep Trump off the ballot.

At a hearing in February, questions by the justices led many to believe they would rule in favour of the former president, who is nearly certain to be the Republican Party's presidential candidate the election - just as President Joe Biden is expected to be the Democratic Party's nominee.