A Colorado Republican is suing to kick Trump off the ballot. She says she’s worried for democracy’s survival

There are two names in the title of one of the most consequential cases in front of the US Supreme Court in modern American history. One is Donald Trump. The other is Norma Anderson.

Ms Anderson, 91, is a retired Republican state lawmaker who broke ground as the first woman to serve as a majority leader in Colorado’s legislature. She’s now the unlikely face of a Supreme Court case that could have a seismic impact on the 2024 presidential election.

That case, Trump v Anderson, will be heard by the Supreme Court on February 8. It follows a mammoth ruling from Colorado Supreme Court justices that found the former president ineligible for the presidency under the scope of the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office.

The Colorado court’s ruling, which the former president appealed to the nation’s highest court, would prevent his name from appearing on the state’s ballots. Similar challenges were filed in more than a dozen other states.

Like millions of Americans, Ms Anderson was staring at a television screen in disbelief on January 6, 2021, when a mob fuelled by then-President Trump’s baseless election fraud claims breached the US Capitol.

“We don’t overturn elections in the United States,” she tells The Independent. “I mean, my goodness. Unbelievable.… He urged the mob in this speech. There’s no doubt about it.… We have a democracy and we depend upon the vote of the people to elect our officials, and you don’t change it by force.”

His threats and pressure campaigns against lawmakers, election officials and his vice president; his failure to stop rioters from breaking into the halls of Congress; and his persistent