The Colorado Republican Party wants to oppose a lawsuit filed last week in state court that seeks to disqualify Donald Trump from appearing on any future primary or general election ballot in Colorado.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Denver District Court by four Republican and two unaffiliated Colorado voters, alleges that the former Republican president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election disqualify him from the ballot under the post-Civil War 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which bars people who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding state or federal office.

In a motion filed on Thursday, Colorado Republicans ask to intervene in the case, arguing that the political party has different interests than either Trump or Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat and the state’s chief election officer, who are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

“This case has only just begun, and the Colorado Republican Committee has an interest in ensuring that its rights to designate its candidates pursuant to its rules and state law are declared and protected as promptly as possible so that it may determine who its designated presidential candidates will be,” the GOP’s motion says.

The state GOP’s chief legal adviser in the case is the Washington, D.C.-based American Center for Law and Justice, whose chief counsel, Jay Sekulow, represented Trump during his first impeachment trial in the Senate.

Denver District Court Judge Sarah Block Wallace noted in an order issued late Thursday that neither Trump nor the lawsuit’s plaintiffs oppose the state Republicans’ motion to intervene, but that Griswold might. The judge told Griswold to “be prepared to discuss the bases for that opposition” at a status conference set for 10 a.m. Monday.

“The Colorado GOP’s interests are already represented by Trump’s (counsel),” a spokeswoman for Griswold told Colorado Politics in an email.

Trump’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment submitted through the attorney representing Trump in the case, former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler.

Helmed by liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the lawsuit asks the court to expedite the matter so it can be resolved before Colorado’s March 5, 2024 primary ballot is finalized. State law sets a deadline of Jan. 5, 2024 for the secretary of state to certify the presidential primary ballot.

In an interview with Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams posted online on Wednesday, Sekulow referred to the lawsuit as “this attempt to edit the ballots, basically censor the ballots,” adding that Williams must be concerned “because you want your citizens, the Republicans in Colorado to have a choice.”

Williams said the lawsuit, which he called “an undemocratic attempt to limit choices,” is unifying Republicans in the state.

“I think everyone tends to agree that if you don’t support Donald Trump, the right answer is to simply organize, to campaign against him, not kick him off the ballot,” Williams said. “I think most people will understand that this is bigger than Donald Trump. It’s bigger than any one candidate. This is about ensuring that we’re securing the voting rights of everyone that wants to participate in the election.”

“That’s what’s really at stake here is voter integrity and voter access,” Sekulow said.