The US Supreme Court on Thursday appeared poised to toss out a state court ruling that would bar former US president Donald Trump from running for the top job again.
During two hours of high-stakes arguments, both conservative and liberal members of the nation’s highest court expressed concern about having individual states decide which candidates can be on the presidential ballot in November.
It is the most consequential election law case to reach the court since it halted the Florida vote recount in 2000 involving then-Republican candidate George W. Bush, who was narrowly leading against Democrat Al Gore.
Photo: Reuters
The question before the nine justices is whether Trump is ineligible to appear on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Colorado because he engaged in an insurrection — the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
The Colorado Supreme Court, citing the 14th Amendment to the constitution, ruled in December last year that Trump, the frontrunner for this year’s Republican nomination, should be kicked off the ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Congress.
Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor general of Texas representing Trump, denied that the events of Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection, and said only that Congress can disqualify a candidate.
“The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision is wrong and should be reversed,” Mitchell said, adding that it would “take away the votes of potentially tens of millions of Americans.”
Jason Murry, representing Colorado voters who brought the case, said that the 14th Amendment clearly bars anyone from holding public office if they engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” after once pledging to support and defend the constitution.
Seventy-seven-year-old Trump, speaking to reporters in Florida, said he hoped for a ruling in his favor.
Pointing out his dominance in Republican opinion polls, he said: “Can you take the person that’s leading everywhere and say: ‘Hey, we’re not gonna let you run?’ You know, I think that’s pretty tough to do, but I’m leaving it up to the Supreme Court.”
Colorado and more than a dozen other states are to hold their presidential nominating contests on March 5 — also known as “Super Tuesday” — and the court is expected to issue its ruling before then.
Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, expressed concern over what he called the “daunting consequence” of upholding the state court ruling, and said that it could lead to “disqualification proceedings on the other side.”
“I would expect that a goodly number of states will say: ‘Whoever the Democratic candidate is, you’re off the ballot,’” Roberts said.
Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal, and several other justices, three of whom were nominated by Trump, appeared to be skeptical about leaving ballot issues to individual states.
“I think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States?” Kagan said. “Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination not only for their own citizens but for the rest of the nation?”
“Different states can have different procedures,” Murray said in response. “Some states may allow insurrectionists to be on the ballot.”
J“The reason we’re here is that president Trump tried to disenfranchise 80 million Americans who voted against him and the Constitution doesn’t require that he be given another chance,” he said.
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