Favorite of Super Tuesday, in which fifteen states vote, the Republican candidate saw his disqualification in Colorado annulled by the highest American court.
Correspondent in Washington
Trump won his first victory the day before Super Tuesday. Announced Monday morning, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the disqualification pronounced against him in Colorado and Maine under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution lifted one of the mortgages weighing on his campaign. By validating his candidacy, the Supreme Court offers him a symbolic victory over his adversaries, pending his probable victory in the primaries which are being held in around fifteen states this Tuesday.
The unprecedented decision of the Supreme Court, published Monday morning on its site, also removes the last suspense of Super Tuesday. This day when the largest number of states vote simultaneously in the primaries, including Colorado, should confirm Trump’s domination of the Republican Party, and that of his opponent Joe Biden over the Democratic Party.
Also read: Joe Biden against Donald Trump: the crazy campaign that is already exhausting the United States
The Supreme Court intervened in the electoral process twenty-four years after the Bush vs. Gore affair, which gave the presidency to George W. Bush and deeply divided the country. She unanimously ruled to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s disqualification of Trump in Trump v. Anderson, which invoked the Constitution’s 14th Amendment barring anyone who led or supported an insurrection from holding office. federal. The judges carefully avoided ruling on the charges against the former president. They simply considered that a State of the Union was not authorized to decide on the application of the Constitution at the federal level.
According to their ruling, Section III of the 14th Amendment can be invoked by a state to “disqualify persons who hold or attempt to hold office in this State.” More “states do not have the authority to enforce Article 3 with respect to federal offices, particularly the presidency,” said the nine judges unanimously. While a majority of five judges believes that this power is exclusively vested in Congress, a minority opinion considers that such clarification is superfluous and prejudges other future cases.
Avoid chaos
The Court explained that leaving each state free to interpret the Constitution risked chaos. “The result could well be that the same candidate would be declared ineligible in some states and not in others. The resulting patchwork would likely have the effect of severing the direct connection between the national government and the people of the United States as a whole. » “If Article 3 were applied after the nation has voted, the disruption would be all the more serious and could lead to the votes of millions of people being canceled (…). Nothing in the Constitution requires us to endure such chaos,” said the judges.
Chaos is therefore avoided, at least for the moment. Trump, already the big favorite for the Republican nomination, sees his candidacy validated by the highest American court and his role in the events of January 6, 2021 de facto minimized. Super Tuesday can thus take place normally in Colorado, where Trump’s name was already printed on the ballots, and in the fifteen states which are holding their primaries simultaneously. But this normality is only an appearance.
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The first Tuesday in March has long been a major moment in the U.S. election calendar, awarding more than a third of each party’s convention delegates. Its results are often decisive, but not this year.
Like the rest of the primary campaign, Super Tuesday 2024 is virtually devoid of suspense. Unsurprisingly, two candidates dominate their camps. Joe Biden, outgoing president, imposed his new candidacy on the Democratic Party. But the very worrying polls for his campaign are causing a feeling of panic in his camp. More than 70% of voters find it too old, particularly among Democrats. Entire sections of his 2020 electorate are turning away from him, notably women, young people and minorities, crucial categories for Democrats. A recent survey gives him 43% of voting intentions, compared to 48% for Trump in the November election. But in the absence of an alternative, the party is betting everything on this unpopular man who, at 81, is showing increasingly obvious signs of physical decline.
Against all odds
On the Republican side, virtually no suspense remains either. After having been a hit in the primaries and caucuses since the start of the year, Donald Trump should confirm his domination of the Republican Party. His candidacy is favored by party rules, which give all the delegates to the candidate who comes first. His campaign predicts he will win at least 773 delegates on Super Tuesday and clinch the nomination in the weeks that follow.
Her latest rival, Nikki Haley, continues her campaign against all odds. She mathematically no longer has any chance of winning the nomination. His only victory was the small District of Columbia (Washington DC) on Sunday.
But his candidacy, which brings together around a quarter of the Republican electorate, signals one of Trump’s handicaps in the general election. Instead of bringing together the Republican electorate, Trump’s aggressive rhetoric against what he calls the Rino (“Republicans in name only”), his divisive personality, and above all the way he tramples on rules and norms continues to undermine him. justify the rejection of a part of the conservative electorate. The Super Tuesday results, particularly in states like North Carolina, one of the key states that could decide the general election, should be an indicator of the extent of this disavowal.
2024-03-04 18:08:07
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