February 9, 2024
On Thursday, February 8, the Supreme Court heard arguments over former President Donald Trump’s effort to remain on the 2024 ballot after a Colorado state court ruled he should be barred because he promoted and participated in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, reports the New York Daily News.
The Conservative-dominated top court weighed the knotty legal question of whether the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars Trump from winning back the presidency because he led the effort to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the violent attack on the Capitol.
The momentous case marks the first time that the justices will be considering a weighty constitutional provision that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent turncoat federal officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” against the Union from ever holding office again.
The case is only one of several Trump cases that the nation’s top court may or may not decide.
Trump is certain to ask them to reverse the decision of an appeals court this week that he does not hold blanket immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in the White House. He is facing a Monday, February 12, deadline to appeal to the justices—or his election interference case will return to District Court Tanya Chutkan for trial.
The 14th Amendment case unfolded after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled late last year that Trump incited the riot in the nation’s capital and, as a result, is ineligible to be president again and should not be allowed on the ballot.
The decision marks the first time that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been applied to a presidential candidate.
Trump’s lawyers argue that the constitutional amendment can’t be used to keep Trump off the ballot for several reasons. They contend that the January 6 riot wasn’t an insurrection—and even if it was, Trump did not participate. The Colorado court found otherwise; and the Supreme Court normally does not make findings of fact, potentially undercutting that argument.
Trump also has suggested that the wording of the amendment does not apply to the president. In addition, his lawyers say that Congress was supposed to pass legislation to allow enforcement of Section 3, which it never did.
Research contact: @NYDailyNews
