WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court of the United States this Friday accepted for consideration the case regarding the exclusion of former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary in Colorado.
The decision enables the court to issue a nationwide opinion on whether Trump can run in the 2024 presidential election or, conversely, whether his role in the 2021 attack on the Capitol makes him ineligible.
In a brief judicial statement, the Supreme Court announced that it had allowed the case to proceed and that the nine justices would hold a public hearing on February 8 to hear the parties' arguments.
The request for the Supreme Court to investigate the case came from Trump's legal team, which appealed an earlier decision by the Colorado Supreme Court.
On December 19 last year, in a ruling unprecedented in United States history, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump could not run in the state's Republican primary because of his role in the attack on the Capitol.
Later, on December 28, Maine became the second state to disqualify Trump. In this case, the decision was made by the authority responsible for organizing elections in this district, Maine Secretary of State, Democrat Shenna Bellows.
Trump's legal team has also appealed the Maine Secretary of State's decision, in this case to that state's Supreme Court.
In both cases, authorities believed Trump was involved in an attempted “insurrection,” which bars him from holding public office under the third section of the 14th Amendment.
This amendment was passed in 1868 after the Civil War in the United States, with the aim of preventing the seizure of power by southern rebels of the Confederacy who had sworn to the Constitution and then betrayed it.
In the absence of a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, these decisions affect only Colorado and Maine, since in the American federal system each state – and not the nation – is responsible for organizing elections.
Another fifteen states, including Oregon, Virginia, New York and Nevada, will also decide whether Trump can run for office.
In the complex American political and electoral system, in which states are responsible for organizing elections, including presidential ones, each has its own laws and rules, so similar demands can lead to different results.
This is where the Supreme Court assumes importance as a Supreme Court ruling should be followed across the country.
Six of the nine members of the Supreme Court are considered conservative, three of whom were nominated by Trump himself during his term in office. Therefore, it would be surprising if they disagreed with the former president.
However, the fact that some of them are supporters of “originalism,” a legal movement that advocates interpreting the Constitution as written by the Founding Fathers, casts doubt on the Supreme Court’s future decision.
Although the public hearing to examine the case will take place on February 8, it is not yet known when the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict and it is not known how far it will go.
The primaries in Colorado and Maine are scheduled for March 5.