What is the 14th Amendment and why does it bar Trump from Colorado’s election ballot?

Donald Trump may be the current 2024 Republican frontrunner but his mounting legal problems are threatening his chance of even appearing on the presidential election ballot in some states.

Political activists and government watchdog organisations have pushed for states to bar the former president from being an option for voters by invoking a little-known provision of the 14th Amendment.

Section Three of the amendment prohibits those who take part in insurrections or who aided enemies of the United States government from taking office.

Judges and justices in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Michigan and Arizona have already dismissed or rejected the attempt to disrupt Mr Trump’s ballot access. But Colorado and Maine have disqualified the former president from appearing on the states’ presidential primary ballot.

To date, formal challenges to Mr Trump’s candidacy have been filed in at least 35 states.

It’s a bold strategy that thrusts American politics as far into uncharted territory as the Congress found itself in as lawmakers fled for their lives on January 6.

Insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021

Section Three of the 14th Amendment disqualifies a person from holding office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort” to enemies, after taking the oath of office.

The provision, often referred to as “the insurrection clause” does not define an insurrection or what it means to engage in one.

Originally, it intended to keep supporters of the South’s failed cease of secession from being elected to office.

But a handful of left-leaning legal groups, buoyed by donations from liberal groups and other Trump-opposed donors, pledged to use the