The U.S. Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a major victory on Monday as he campaigns to regain the presidency, barring states from disqualifying candidates for federal office under a constitutional provision involving insurrection and reversing a judicial decision that had excluded him from Colorado's ballot.
The justices unanimously reversed a December 19 decision by Colorado’s top court to kick Trump off the state’s Republican primary, after finding that the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment disqualified him from again holding public office. The Colorado court had found that Trump took part in an insurrection for inciting and supporting the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
The ruling came on the eve of Super Tuesday, the day in the U.S. presidential primary cycle when most states hold party nominating contests. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is now the only Republican challenging Trump for the GOP nomination ahead of the November 5 presidential elections against incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!,” Trump wrote on his social media platform immediately after the ruling.
The 14th Amendment was passed in the aftermath of the 1861-65 American Civil War. Its Section 3 bars from office any “officer of the United States” who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Trump’s eligibility had been challenged in court by a group of six voters in Colorado, four Republicans and two independents, who believed he was a threat to American democracy and sought to hold him accountable for the events of January 6, 2021. They also received backing from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group.
“We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency,” the unsigned opinion for the court stated, further clarifying that only Congress can enforce the provision against federal officeholders and candidates.
Trump was also barred from ballots in Maine and Illinois based on the 14th Amendment, but those decisions were put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Colorado case.
The Supreme Court agreed to take up the Colorado case a mere two days after Trump filed his appeal, fast-tracked arguments, and issued the written opinion in just over two months.
In ruling against Trump, Colorado’s top court cited the “general atmosphere of political violence that President Trump created” and that he aided “the insurrectionists’ common unlawful purpose of preventing the peaceful transfer of power in this country.”
The Supreme Court heard arguments on February 8. Trump’s lawyer argued that he is not subject to the disqualification language because a president is not an “officer of the United States,” that the provision cannot be enforced by courts absent congressional legislation, and that what occurred on January 6 was shameful, criminal and violent but not an insurrection.
As lawsuits seeking to disqualify Trump cropped up across the country, it was important for his candidacy to clear any hurdles to appear on the ballot in all 50 states speedily. This stands in contrast to its slower handling of Trump’s bid for immunity from criminal prosecution in a federal case in which he faces charges for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump’s trial has been put on hold awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision.
The ruling came on the eve of Super Tuesday, the day in the U.S. presidential primary cycle when most states hold party nominating contests. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is now the only Republican challenging Trump for the GOP nomination ahead of the November 5 presidential elections against incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!,” Trump wrote on his social media platform immediately after the ruling.
The 14th Amendment was passed in the aftermath of the 1861-65 American Civil War. Its Section 3 bars from office any “officer of the United States” who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Trump’s eligibility had been challenged in court by a group of six voters in Colorado, four Republicans and two independents, who believed he was a threat to American democracy and sought to hold him accountable for the events of January 6, 2021. They also received backing from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group.
“We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency,” the unsigned opinion for the court stated, further clarifying that only Congress can enforce the provision against federal officeholders and candidates.
Trump was also barred from ballots in Maine and Illinois based on the 14th Amendment, but those decisions were put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Colorado case.
The Supreme Court agreed to take up the Colorado case a mere two days after Trump filed his appeal, fast-tracked arguments, and issued the written opinion in just over two months.
In ruling against Trump, Colorado’s top court cited the “general atmosphere of political violence that President Trump created” and that he aided “the insurrectionists’ common unlawful purpose of preventing the peaceful transfer of power in this country.”
The Supreme Court heard arguments on February 8. Trump’s lawyer argued that he is not subject to the disqualification language because a president is not an “officer of the United States,” that the provision cannot be enforced by courts absent congressional legislation, and that what occurred on January 6 was shameful, criminal and violent but not an insurrection.
As lawsuits seeking to disqualify Trump cropped up across the country, it was important for his candidacy to clear any hurdles to appear on the ballot in all 50 states speedily. This stands in contrast to its slower handling of Trump’s bid for immunity from criminal prosecution in a federal case in which he faces charges for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump’s trial has been put on hold awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision.
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