Today is Feb. 9, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

At SCOTUS, Colorado's Justice Carlos Samour looms in Trump ballot disqualification arguments

During Thursday’s oral arguments before the nation’s highest court about Donald Trump’s constitutional eligibility to remain on the ballot, the justices explicitly and indirectly channeled the member of Colorado’s Supreme Court who wrote the most impassioned critique of the legal effort to disqualify Trump.

Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., in his dissenting opinion in December, used blistering language to cast doubt upon the use of Colorado’s election laws to declare Trump constitutionally disqualified from office on the grounds that he engaged in insurrection as president.

Donald Trump appeared to be headed for a major legal victory at the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices on Thursday signaled their readiness to reject Colorado’s decision to kick the former president off the ballot for allegedly taking part in an “insurrection” during the 2021 Capitol attack.

The nine justices heard about two hours of arguments in Trump’s appeal of a Dec. 19 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify him from the state’s Republican March 5 primary ballot under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The state court concluded he “engaged” in an “insurrection.”

The ruling in the case promises major implications for the Nov. 5 election. Trump, who did not attend the arguments, is the overwhelming frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.

Colorado Republicans call case against Trump 'unreal,' Democrats say SCOTUS should bar 'insurrectionist'

Republicans and Democrats in Colorado expectedly hewed along partisan lines following Thursday’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is weighing whether former president Donald Trump should be disqualified from the state ballot for allegedly engaging in an “insurrection” that culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.

“It would be a terrible mistake and precedent to ban former President Trump — or any candidate — from the ballot in this country,” U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican, said on Twitter. “Voters deserve to decide who they want to support to be president in January 2025.”

From the opposite side of the ideological aisle, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Jan. 6 “one of the darkest days in our nation’s history” and said Trump “incited an insurrection and attempted to steal the presidency from the American people.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson adds Colorado Republican Gabe Evans to joint fundraising operation

Colorado congressional candidate Gabe Evans could see an infusion of campaign cash in coming months after House Speaker Mike Johnson added the Fort Lupton Republican to a list of participants in a joint fundraising committee aimed at boosting the GOP’s majority in the chamber.

Evans, one of four Republicans running in a primary for the seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, stands to benefit from the Grow the Majority political action committee, a GOP super PAC a spokesman said distributed $2 million last month to candidates and committees.

Johnson formally endorsed Evans this week, describing the first-term state lawmaker as “uniquely qualified to go toe-to-toe with and defeat” Caraveo, who is seeking a second term in the battleground 8th Congressional District.

Colorado House committee revives single-payer healthcare system discussions

Some of Colorado’s lawmakers want to explore anew the possibility of implementing a single-payer health care system in Colorado roughly eight years after voters soundly rejected the idea.

The bill, House Bill 1075, received approval on Wednesday from the House Health and Human Services Committee.

In pushing for the measure, sponsors cited a 2019 study that concluded a “full publicly financed and privately delivered health care system could yield significant healthcare savings.” In 2016, roughly 80% of Colorado’s voters rejected a ballot measure that would have created a single-payer system financed by new taxes to the tune of $25 billion a year.

Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams explored using Dominion equipment for party assembly elections

Colorado Republican Party Chair Dave Williams, who criticized Dominion voting machines in the past, appears not averse to using them for the party’s upcoming state assembly.

Last month, Williams sent a request to El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker, asking for help with the elections that will be held at the April 6 state party assembly in Pueblo.

“We need to contract with a clerk to administer paper ballots for the State Assembly,” Williams said in a a text message obtained by Colorado Politics.