Washington, 4 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The removal of former US President Donald Trump from the Republican presidential primary in the US state of Colorado is not legal, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday. 

The decision overturns one from the Colorado Supreme Court, which wrote that Trump should be left off the Colorado ballot because he participated in an insurrection. That participation, the state court ruled, made him ineligible per a section of the US Constitution.

But the nation's top court said the 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."

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 widely seen as the Republican Party's presidential candidate for this November's election.

Photo: MIA Archive