USA: The Supreme Court finds Trump eligible in Colorado
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Monday (4) that former President of the United States Donald Trump can participate in the presidential elections in the country, which will be held in November this year.
The sentence responds to a specific decision by the state of Colorado, but applies to every other state that denies Trump's presence at the ballot box and therefore to the entire country. In other words, there is no longer any chance that the former president will be excluded from the election campaign.
In Monday's Supreme Court decision, the conservativemajority justices concluded that it is up to the country's Congress, not the states, to decide whether or not a candidate can run in the election.
The judges ruled in favor of Trump unanimous form. Six of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are conservative, and three of them were appointed by Donald Trump when he was president of the United States.
One of them, John Roberts, had already said that the consequence was a possible approval of the Colorado decision could be “very scary”.. According to Roberts, If Colorado's ruling is upheld, other states would pursue their own disqualification procedures for Democrats or Republicans.
In this report you will learn the most important points about the Trump case:
Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden but refused to accept the result.
On January 6, 2021, Trump was still president and gave a speech in Washington DC a crowd that entered the US Congress building after the speech (The building is known as the Capitol).
Years later, a group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit in Colorado state court seeking to disqualify Trump from the election because of his participation in the January 6 episode.
Supporters of Trump's conviction say he participated in an insurrection and therefore his candidacy would violate an article of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The text stipulates that persons who have participated as authorities in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States cannot return to public office.
Does the rule apply to presidents?
The main argument from Trump's lawyers is that this section of the Constitution does not apply to presidents.
They say that there are details in the text (e.g. “President” is not explicitly mentioned) that in practice result in the rule not referring to presidents. Trump defenders have other arguments (see below).
How has the case progressed so far?
The judge at the Colorado trial agreed with Trump's defense. She understood that he was involved in an insurrection, but that the text of the constitutional amendment does not apply to presidents.
The case that reached the Supreme Court comes from Colorado, but there have been other decisions on the same issue in other states:
- In the state of Maine, the Democratic Secretary of State also decided to remove Trump from the ballot.
- In the state of Illinois, a retired judge who holds the role of comptroller on the Board of Elections suggested keeping Trump on the ballot until the court makes a decision, but said he believed the former president could not run ( the judge comes from…). the Republican Party).
Trump's other arguments
Trump's main defense is that the rule doesn't apply to presidents, but lawyers have other arguments:
- This is an unclear clause in the Constitution, and clarification should be made by Congress, not the courts.
- The attack on Congress on January 6, 2021 was not an insurrection because it occurred in a single location and there were almost no firearms or other hallmarks of an insurrection.
- Trump didn't get involved in anything, he just exercised his right to free speech, which is protected by law in the USA.
1 of 1 The Trump campaign said the Colorado action was aimed at “stretching the law beyond recognition” Photo: Carlos Barria/Portal The Trump campaign said the Colorado action was aimed at “stretching the law beyond recognition.” to expand beyond recognition” Photo: Carlos Barria/Portal
But was there any prosecution for the riot?
There is another argument in Trump's favor: to decide whether he participated in an insurrection would require a trial in which his rights were upheld, which did not happen in practice, the Colorado court only ruled that that the article is valid for presidents.
This section of the Constitution is rarely cited, so the Supreme Court has never decided a case on this section.
Trump's case is historic and a new law is expected to be created.
Isn't that a political judgment?
Members of the Democratic Party wanted Trump barred from running, while members of the Republican Party say the former president believes there is a campaign against him.
The U.S. Supreme Court has six justices appointed by Republican Party presidents (three of them by Trump himself).
The other three were nominated by Democratic Party presidents.
There are conservative lawyers who say the text of the Constitution is clear and simple and that Trump should be barred from running.
Even among supposedly progressive judges, there are doubts: All members of the Colorado Supreme Court were appointed by Democratic governors, with three of seven voting for the former president.