Supreme Court Rules States Can’t Bar Trump From The Ballot

On Monday, Donald Trump scored a personal and legal victory when the Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s attempt to remove the former president from its primary ballot.

Colorado’s Supreme Court had ruled that Trump was ineligible for federal office under section 3 of the 14th Amendment which states that officeholders who “engage in insurrection” are prohibited from running for office.

The Supreme Court submitted an unsigned decision with no dissents that made it clear that Congress, not the states, determine the rules for applying the 14th Amendment. The majority ruling said, “Because the constitution makes Congress, rather than the states, responsible for enforcing section 3 against all federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse.”

The court’s three liberal justices said that the majority opinion went too far in the scope of its ruling.

The Court’s decision on this Constitutional question helped them to avoid making a judgment on whether the final acts of Trump’s presidency qualified as an “insurrection.”

The ruling will keep Trump on the ballot in all 50 states.

Trump gave a statement hailing the decision from his Mar-a-Lago residence. He said the decision was “very well crafted” and will “go a long way towards bringing our country together, which it needs. You can’t take someone out of a race because an opponent would like it that way.”

Rep. Jaimie Raskin (D-Maryland) stated that he has begun preparing legislation in light of the Court’s decision.

“Congress will have to try to act,” he said in an interview. He references legislation he pushed in 2022 that would create a pathway for the Justice Department to sue to keep candidates off the ballot under the 14th Amendment. He also says the bill will come with a resolution that officially declares January 6 an insurrection and that those involved “engaged in an insurrection.”

Raskin acknowledged that the bill would not likely make it to the floor in the Republican-controlled House. “I don’t have a lot of hope that Speaker [Mike] Johnson will allow us to bring enforcement legislation to the floor, but we have to try and do it,” he said.

Article by Clark Franzman