WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a major victory on Monday (March 4) as he campaigns to regain the presidency, overturning a judicial decision that had excluded him from Colorado’s ballot under a constitutional provision involving insurrection for inciting and supporting the Jan 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
The justices unanimously reversed a Dec 19 decision by Colorado’s top court to kick Trump off the state’s Republican primary ballot on Tuesday after finding that the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment disqualified him from again holding public office.
Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov 5 US election. His only remaining rival for his party’s nomination is former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Trump was also barred from the ballot 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.
Trump’s eligibility had been challenged in court by a group of six voters in Colorado – four Republicans and two independents – who portrayed him as a threat to American democracy and sought to hold him accountable for the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
The plaintiffs were backed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group.
The ruling came on the eve of Super Tuesday, the day in the US presidential primary cycle when the most states hold party nominating contests. 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.
The Supreme Court resolved the Colorado ballot dispute speedily, a timeline that 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 – a benefit for him as he campaigns against Biden.
In the Colorado dispute, the justices agreed to take up the case a mere two days after Trump filed his appeal, fast-tracked arguments and issued the written opinion in just over two months.
The justices in the immunity case in December declined a bid to speed up resolution of the matter before a lower court had weighed in, then last week agreed to take up the matter after lower courts had ruled – setting arguments to take place in late April, a much longer timeline.
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees. Not since ruling in the landmark case Bush v. Gore, which handed the disputed 2000 US election to Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, has the court played such a central role in a presidential race.
Source: CNA
