It started with a lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court of the state of Colorado deciding to remove Donald Trump from the ballot.
The court’s decision was based on the 14th amendment to the constitution, which prohibits people who supported an insurgency from standing for election. This is because of the former president’s role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
At the beginning of January, the ex-president filed an appeal, and now the time has come for the case to be decided in the Supreme Court.
“The judges are skeptical”
SVT’s US correspondent Fouad Youcefi has been on site and monitored the main hearing on Thursday.
– The judges in the Supreme Court seem very skeptical about excluding Trump from the ballots.
An announcement about Trump’s future can be expected as early as next week, but it can also take time, says Youcefi. The big question, however, is what happens if Trump is stopped from the election.
– That all states, not just Colorado, need to comply. That would mean political chaos, constitutional chaos. In any case, this is what the autumn court judges are quite worried about, says Fouad Youcefi.
Refers to historical constitution
Among other Trump-critical Republicans are behind the current lawsuit.
At the moment, it is both unclear whether the 14th Amendment, which was written in 1886 after the end of the Civil War, should apply, and whether the events at the Capitol on January 6 should count as a rebellion.
Fouad Youcefi gives more details about Thursday’s main hearing in the clip above.
