On Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court ejected six-term Rep. Doug Lamborn from June’s GOP primary ballot for the very red 5th Congressional District. The court ruled that Lamborn's campaign had hired a circulator to collect petitions who did not meet the state's residency requirements, which meant that the signatures he collected were "invalid and may not be considered." With those signatures thrown out, the court said that Lamborn did not have the 1,000 valid petitions he needed. Lamborn's campaign says they plan to challenge the ruling in federal court.

Lamborn's attorney argues that it's unconstitutional not to count otherwise-valid signatures because of the collector's residency, and indeed, federal courts have generally been sympathetic to such claims, including the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Colorado. This precedent suggests this attempt to get Lamborn back on the ballot would have a good chance of succeeding

But if this doesn’t work, Lamborn’s career may just be kaput. While Colorado allows candidates to qualify for the ballot if they win the support of at least 30 percent of the delegates at the state party convention, the convention already happened weeks ago, and Lamborn didn't compete there. It’s also appears to be too late for Lamborn to run a write-in campaign. State law requires write-in candidates to file an "affidavit of intent" with the secretary of state's office 67 days before the primary … and that deadline was Friday. So unless Lamborn stealthily submitted such an affidavit while his court case was pending (something he does not appear to have done), this option is foreclosed to him, though in theory he could still run as a write-in in the general election.

Two local elected officials were already challenging Lamborn in the primary, and unlike the congressman, they will be on the ballot. State Sen. Owen Hill was the guy who won the party endorsement at the convention that Lamborn skipped, while El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn was the 2016 Senate nominee. This Colorado Springs-area seat backed Donald Trump 57-33 Trump, and the GOP is favored to keep it no matter what happens with Lamborn.

This piece has been updated to reflect that Lamborn will challenge the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling in federal court