The 91-year-old life-long Republican who filed the lawsuit to remove former President Donald Trump’s name from Colorado’s primary ballot spoke to Reuters this week about her rationale for taking such a risky legal action.
“I am old enough to remember the Depression, World War Two, two other wars, recessions, good times, bad times, and a lot of presidents,” Norma Anderson told Reuters of the events of January 6, 2021. But, having witnessed what happened on January 6th, I understood who was responsible right away.”
Anderson’s career in Colorado Republican politics spans decades, with stints in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1987 to 1998 and the Colorado Senate from 1999 to 2006. Anderson became the first woman in Colorado history to be elected Republican majority leader while serving in both houses.
Six voters, including Anderson, sued Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold in September 2023, claiming that Trump should be removed from the ballot under the 14th Amendment for open insurrection against the United States government.
Anderson v. Griswold eventually reached the Colorado Supreme Court, which overruled a lower court judgment and ruled in Anderson’s favor, causing global news by removing Trump from the state’s ballot.
Trump has filed an appeal, and the case, Trump v. Anderson, will now be reviewed by the United States Supreme Court in what is sure to be a watershed moment in presidential eligibility. The Colorado Supreme Court order has been delayed pending an appeal, and in the meantime, Colorado has printed primary ballots with Trump’s name on them, but will not count those votes if the ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court.
Anderson talked about the case in historical terms, claiming that it is about the future of American democracy. “He aspires to be king.” “He wants to be like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, where he has complete control,” she said of Trump, according to Reuters.
Anderson is joined in her lawsuit against Trump by three other Republicans and two independents. According to Reuters, Mario Nicolais, a Republican from Denver, and the other plaintiffs in the case “were so turned off by that insurgency and what Donald Trump did on January 6 that they said… our country is more important and our Constitution is more important.” And anyone who does that will be barred from running again.”
Nicolais added that he believes it is critical that Republicans support the case, since “then it can just be dismissed as, ‘Oh, well, this is all political.'” And that’s something we didn’t want.”
Nonetheless, Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, has attacked the case, claiming that “the Colorado sham, and others like it, are part of a well-funded, coordinated Democrat Party effort to interfere in the election.”