Politics

SCOTUS Hears Trump Colorado Ballot Case

FEB 8 2024·Updated FEB 9 2024

Story

Image credit: Anna Moneymaker/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images (Dec. 18, 2023)

The Facts

The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) Thursday heard oral arguments concerning the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling to remove Republican former Pres. Donald Trump from the state's 2024 primary election ballot.
supremecourt.gov
Previously, the Colorado court voted 4-3 on Dec. 19, 2023 to remove Trump from the ballot due to alleged violations of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, accusing the former president of “engaging in insurrection” during the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol.
Documentcloud
Attorney Jonathan Mitchell argued on Trump's behalf that Colorado's decision was wrong for numerous reasons, including its classification of the president as an "officer of the United States," a necessary condition of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Mitchell also cited a decision from 1869 (Griffin's case) that said Congress had to create a mechanism for enforcing Section 3; the mechanism created in response expired in the 1940s.
The Associated Press
In response, Jason Murray — attorney for Norma Anderson & Group of Colorado Voters — argued that Trump's actions up to and during the Capitol riots disqualified him from public office and Colorado was exercising its right to safeguard its ballot.
The Associated Press
Shortly after the SCOTUS arguments, Trump held a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he claimed the Capitol riots were "an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi," and his comments on that day were "very beautiful, very heartwarming statements."
Fox Business
SCOTUS has never previously ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution following the Civil War. The Colorado court’s decision was the first time the provision was used to block a presidential candidate from a ballot.
CBS News

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The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

The Constitution is clear when it comes to the consequences of inciting an insurrection, and when majorities in the Senate and House in 2021 moved forward with Trump's second impeachment, he was officially designated as an insurrectionist. So a third Trump run for America's highest office will place the US' democratic value system in potentially irreversible danger.

CNN

Pro-Trump narrative

Despite the best attempts of political and legal conspirators, Colorado's antidemocratic attempts to remove Trump from its ballot will likely crumble under the scrutiny of SCOTUS. The case is but another in a long line of illegitimate attempts to undermine Trump's road to the White House via a weaponization of the justice system.

The Last Refuge