The US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear Donald Trump's appeal of a court decision That excludes him from the Republican primary in Colorado and makes him a “politically explosive” case with significant implications for the 2024 presidential election, the Portal agency reported.
At issue is the December 19 Colorado Supreme Court ruling that disqualified Trump in this state based on the language of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is due to the context of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The judges dealt with the case with unusual speed. Trump, the favorite to lead his party and challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 US election, made his appeal on Wednesday. The justices indicated they would expedite a decision and scheduled oral arguments for Feb. 8. Colorado's Republican primary is scheduled for March 5.
The state court declared Trump ineligible because of a challenge from Republican and independent voters in Colorado for the presidency under a constitutional provision that prohibits anyone who “engages in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office and bars them from primaries.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not respond to a separate appeal by the Colorado Republican Party of the state court's decision.
Colorado case pushes Supreme Court — whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump-appointed justices — in an unprecedented and politically fraught attempt by the former president's critics to thwart his goal of regaining the White House.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung praised the court's decision to hear the case and called the disqualification efforts “part of a well-funded effort by left-wing political activists aimed at preventing President Trump's legal re-election in November, even if it means disenfranchising voters.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said people “deserve clarity about whether someone who participated in the insurrection can run for the highest office in the land.”
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group representing Trump's rivals, added: “We are pleased that the Supreme Court will finally decide whether Donald Trump can take part in the election. We look forward to presenting and securing our case that the constitution is respected“.
Many Republicans have criticized the disqualification campaign as election interference. Meanwhile, proponents of disqualification have said holding Trump constitutionally responsible for an insurrection supports democratic values. Trump is facing criminal charges on two counts for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden.
The former president also appealed to a Maine court a decision by that state's chief election official that barred him from participating in the primary election under the same constitutional provision.
While the Colorado case could hamper Trump's bid to reclaim the presidency, It also has important implications for judges. Given the political nature of the dispute, they risk appearing partisan, no matter which way they lean.
Their action will advance a broader effort to bar Trump from other state elections. Colorado and Maine are Democratic-leaning states. Independent political analysts say both are unlikely to support a Republican presidential candidate in the general election. But there are also efforts in other states, including hotly contested Michigan, that could influence the outcome of the election.
The Colorado ruling marked the first time that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment – the so-called Disqualification Clause – was used to declare a presidential candidate ineligible. Section 3 prohibits any “U.S. official” who has sworn to “support the U.S. Constitution” from holding office. and then “participated in an insurrection or rebellion against the same, or gave aid or comfort to its enemies.”
The amendment was ratified after the American Civil War of 1861–1865, in which Southern states that permitted the practice of slavery rebelled and attempted to secede.
Among other things Trump's lawyers said Section 3 does not apply to US presidents. that the question of the presidential nomination is reserved for Congress and that Trump did not participate in an insurrection.
The Colorado Court decision marked “For the first time in U.S. history, the judiciary has prevented voters from casting their ballot for the leading major party presidential candidate.”, is Trump's appeal. Republican and independent voters who barred Trump from the vote disagreed with the Supreme Court's stance. In a filing Thursday, they highlighted the lower court's findings that Trump's intentional “mobilization, incitement, and encouragement” of an armed mob to attack the Capitol met the legal definition of Section 3.
“This attack was in every respect an 'insurrection' against the Constitution,” the document says.
Trump supporters attacked the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the election victory from Biden. Trump gave an incendiary speech before the attack in which he repeated his claims about alleged widespread voter fraud.
Biden called Trump a threat to democracy in a speech Friday in Pennsylvania American, one of the themes of his re-election campaign. Biden specifically referred to Trump's speech before the Capitol riots, the third anniversary of which falls this Saturday.