by Robert Schmad
Former President Donald Trump was barred from appearing on the state’s 2024 ballot thanks to four Democrat-appointed justices.
Colorado Supreme Court Justices Melissa Hart, Monica Márquez, William Hood and Richard Gabriel comprised the one-vote majority that found on Dec. 19 that Trump engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 and was therefore disqualified under the Fourteenth Amendment from appearing on the Colorado ballot.
Hart has donated nearly $20,000 to Democrats running in federal elections since 2008, according to Federal Election Commission records, by far the most of any of her colleagues. She donated thousands more to state-level Democrats, according to records maintained by the Colorado secretary of state.
Hood, meanwhile, has donated over $5,000 to Democratic candidates and groups, according to Ballotpedia. He also hosted a campaign event for former Democratic Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.
The other two judges who voted to strike Trump from the ballot also donated to Democrats. Márquez gave $115 to Obama and Gabriel gave $600 to assorted Democrats running for federal office, according to FEC records.
None of the Colorado Supreme Court justices, who were also appointed by Democrats, who decided against removing Trump made donations to Democrats running for federal office, according to FEC records.
Hart currently works as a professor at the University of Colorado Law School.
As a professor, she published papers arguing that racial discrimination is a significant problem in the workplace and that existing laws don’t do enough to combat it, as well as papers arguing that women are discriminated against in law, specifically on the purported gender pay gap in the field.
Hart and her colleagues all draw six-figure salaries for their work on the Colorado Supreme Court, according to state records.
Márquez, Hart and Gabriel, all of whom attended Ivy League Law Schools, voted to remove Trump from the ballot. Justices Brian Boatright, Carlos Samour and Maria Berkenkotter, meanwhile, are graduates of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and voted against removing Trump from Colorado’s ballot.
Hood was the only one to vote to remove Trump from the ballot that did not attend an Ivy League law school.
Márquez, Hart and Hood all lead the Center for Legal Inclusiveness’ “Bench Dream Team” where they seek to “increase diversity on the Colorado Bench.” The Center for Legal Inclusiveness believes in the importance of getting more women and non-white people into law.
Márquez also belongs to the Colorado LGBT Bar Association and the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association. She previously served as chair of the Denver mayor’s GLBT Commission.
Márquez is the first open homosexual to serve on Colorado’s Supreme Court, according to the Denver Post.
The Colorado Supreme Court removed the phone numbers for the judges’ offices after the Trump ruling. The numbers can still be accessed through an archive of the webpage.
Justices Gabriel, Hart, Hood and Márquez did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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Robert Schmad is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Colorado Supreme Court Justices” by courts.state.co.us.
