DONALD TRUMP is ineligible to stand for the US presidency under the constitution’s anti-insurrection clause, the Colorado Supreme Court has said, in a ruling that removed him from the state’s election ballot.

Tuesday’s decision marks the first time in history that section three of the 14th amendment, which bars from office anyone who has sworn an oath to “support” the constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it, has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.

Colorado’s highest court overturned a ruling by a district court judge that, while the former president had incited an insurrection by virtue of his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol, he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the provision was intended to cover the presidency.

Mr Trump’s lawyers had promised to appeal immediately against any disqualification to the nation’s highest court, which has the final say about constitutional matters.

The decision does not stop Mr Trump from standing in other states and has been placed on hold pending appeal until January 4 or until the US Supreme Court rules on the case.

Similar legal actions in New Hampshire, Minnesota and Michigan have failed.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” wrote the court’s four-to-three majority. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us.

“We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favour, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

Mr Trump did not mention the decision during a rally on Tuesday evening in Waterloo, Iowa, but his campaign sent out a fundraising email referring to a “tyrannical ruling.”