On Monday, the Supreme Court decided that Donald Trump, the former president, should stay on the primary ballot in Colorado, dismissing a legal challenge against his qualification for another term. The ruling was unanimous, with the Supreme Court ruling 9 to 0.
This challenge, if successful, could have significantly impacted the presidential race by removing him from ballots across the country.
The justices, despite differing in their reasoning, unanimously agreed that states do not have the authority to exclude candidates for federal office based on a specific constitutional clause, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits insurrectionists from holding office, the New York Times reports.
This ruling marks the most significant Supreme Court decision regarding a presidential election since the Bush v. Gore case, which ultimately led to George W. Bush becoming president in 2000.
The case originated from an objection made by six voters from Colorado. They aimed to remove Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section, established post-Civil War, prohibits individuals who had pledged “to support the Constitution of the United States” from serving in office if they subsequently “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
A trial judge in Colorado determined that Trump had participated in insurrection but agreed with his contention that Section 3 was not applicable to the president or the presidency. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the initial part of the decision, confirming Trump’s involvement in an insurrection.
The court’s findings highlighted his actions aimed at reversing the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, attempts to change vote tallies, support for false elector slates, efforts to coerce the vice president into breaching the Constitution, and his calls for followers to converge on the Capitol. Trump’s lawyers have focused on the former president telling protesters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
However, the majority of the Colorado Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling that Section 3 was not relevant to the president or the presidency.
Trump appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, presenting over half a dozen reasons why he believed the state court’s decision was incorrect and arguing that disqualifying him would disregard the preference of the electorate.
“The court should put a swift and decisive end to these ballot-disqualification efforts, which threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans and which promise to unleash chaos and bedlam if other state courts and state officials follow Colorado’s lead and exclude the likely Republican presidential nominee from their ballots,” Trump’s brief said.
In his main argument to the U.S. Supreme Court, he contended that the office of the president was not included among the positions specified by Section 3, noting that this section does not explicitly name that role.
The full provision states: “No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of president and vice president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
It adds, “But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
