The United States Supreme Court unanimously sided with Donald Trump on Monday, allowing the former president to remain on the ballot and overturning a Colorado ruling that disqualified him from returning to office for his conduct surrounding the assault on September 6. January 2021 at the United States Capitol.
The justices said the Constitution does not allow a single state to disqualify a presidential candidate for national office, ruling that that responsibility “lies with Congress and not the states.”
The decision leaves Trump as the main candidate for the Republican nomination and for now removes the Supreme Court from directly determining the path of the 2024 presidential elections. The justices fast-tracked the challenge by Colorado voters and issued their decision a day before Super Tuesday, when that state and more than a dozen others hold primaries. The ruling applies to other states with similar challenges to Trump’s candidacy.
In a sign that the high court is mindful of the election calendar, the justices took the unusual step of announcing the opinion on the Supreme Court’s website on a day when the court is not in session, rather than issuing it from the stand at the end of this month.
Trump celebrated the court’s decision on his website, Truth Social. “GREAT VICTORY FOR AMERICA!!!”, he posted.
The justices were reviewing a decision by Colorado’s highest court that relied on a long-dormant provision of the 14th Amendment after the Civil War to declare Trump ineligible to return to the White House. The unprecedented case thrust the Supreme Court into a pivotal role not seen since 2000, when the high court’s decision in Bush v. Gore gave the presidency to George W. Bush and bitterly divided the nation.
Trump’s eligibility to return to office is not the only issue before the justices that could affect the eligibility of the former president, who faces four criminal charges, two of them related to his efforts to block President Biden’s electoral victory in 2020.
The Supreme Court next month will hear Trump’s challenge to a unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit that said he is not protected from criminal prosecution by presidential immunity. The justices have separately agreed to review the validity of a law that was used to charge hundreds of people in connection with the Jan. 6 riot and is also a key element in Trump’s four-count federal election obstruction case. in Washington.
Trump is the first former US president to be charged with a crime. The involvement of the high court in his legal and political future as he campaigns to return to the White House has turned the 2024 elections into an unprecedented test for the judicial and democratic institutions of the United States.
What was at stake in the Colorado case was Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, designed to prevent the Confederates from returning to power. The provision prohibits any person who previously pledged to support the Constitution as an “official of the United States” from holding office again if he betrayed his oath of office by participating in an insurrection. The text of Section 3 does not specify who must enforce the clause or when it must be invoked.
The challenge to Trump’s candidacy was filed by six Colorado voters, four Republicans and two independents. The Colorado Supreme Court found that Trump committed insurrection when he rallied his supporters in Washington and encouraged an angry crowd to disrupt Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.
In oral arguments on February 8, judges from across the ideological spectrum warned of troubling political ramifications if they allowed Colorado’s highest court to order the leading Republican presidential candidate to be excluded from the vote. Several justices suggested that allowing the state court ruling to bar Trump from holding federal office would roil the presidential race and lead other states to try to disqualify Democratic candidates.
The justices did not spend much time on the question of whether Trump participated in an insurrection. Instead, much of the discussion focused on different interpretations of the text and history of the 14th Amendment provision, also known as the disqualification clause.
Trump’s attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, told the court that enforcement of the disqualification clause falls to Congress, not courts or state officials. Additionally, Mitchell said Section 3 does not apply to Trump because the president is not an “official of the United States,” which is one of the terms the section uses when talking about potential insurrectionists.
Jason Murray, the lawyer for Colorado voters, urged the justices to finally resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility, warning that if they don’t, Congress could still try to disqualify Trump and prevent him from taking office if he wins. the general elections.
Trump’s eligibility to return to office is not the only issue before the justices that could affect the eligibility of the former president, who faces four criminal charges, two of them related to his efforts to block President Biden’s electoral victory in 2020.
The Supreme Court next month will hear Trump’s challenge to a unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit that said he is not protected from criminal prosecution by presidential immunity. The justices have separately agreed to review the validity of a law that was used to charge hundreds of people in connection with the Jan. 6 riot and is also a key element in Trump’s four-count federal election obstruction case. in Washington.
Trump is the first former US president to be charged with a crime. The involvement of the high court in his legal and political future as he campaigns to return to the White House has turned the 2024 elections into an unprecedented test for the judicial and democratic institutions of the United States.
What was at stake in the Colorado case was Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, designed to prevent the Confederates from returning to power. The provision prohibits any person who previously pledged to support the Constitution as an “official of the United States” from holding office again if he betrayed his oath of office by participating in an insurrection. The text of Section 3 does not specify who must enforce the clause or when it must be invoked.
The challenge to Trump’s candidacy was filed by six Colorado voters, four Republicans and two independents. The Colorado Supreme Court found that Trump committed insurrection when he rallied his supporters in Washington and encouraged an angry crowd to disrupt Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.
In oral arguments on February 8, judges from across the ideological spectrum warned of troubling political ramifications if they allowed Colorado’s highest court to order the leading Republican presidential candidate to be excluded from the vote. Several justices suggested that allowing the state court ruling to bar Trump from holding federal office would roil the presidential race and lead other states to try to disqualify Democratic candidates.
The justices did not spend much time on the question of whether Trump participated in an insurrection. Instead, much of the discussion focused on different interpretations of the text and history of the 14th Amendment provision, also known as the disqualification clause.
Trump’s attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, told the court that enforcement of the disqualification clause falls to Congress, not courts or state officials. Additionally, Mitchell said Section 3 does not apply to Trump because the president is not an “official of the United States,” which is one of the terms the section uses when talking about potential insurrectionists.
Jason Murray, the lawyer for Colorado voters, urged the justices to finally resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility, warning that if they don’t, Congress could still try to disqualify Trump and prevent him from taking office if he wins. the general elections.
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