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Donald Trump can stay on Colorado ballot after Supreme Court rejects he was accountable for Capitol riots

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9 months ago

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The US Supreme Court has rejected Colorado state attempts to remove Donald Trump from the ballot for president.

He can now remain on the ballot for president in the state after the court rejected claims he was accountable for the Capitol riots in 2021.

On his social media platform after the ruling, Trump wrote: “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”

Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic president Joe Biden in November’s US election.

His only remaining rival for his party’s nomination is former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley.

The Colorado Supreme Court said in December Trump could not stand for election in the state because he had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion”.

The judges ruled Trump was disqualified because he had incited the 6 January riot at the Capitol building in Washington DC in an attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

The 14th Amendment’s Section 3 bars from office any “officer of the United States” who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”.

“We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office.

“But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency,” the unsigned opinion for the court stated.

Image:
A police officer outside the Supreme Court building in Washington DC following Monday’s ruling. Pic: Reuters

Read more:
The storming of the Capitol – how the violence unfolded
What is Super Tuesday – and why does it matter so much?
Nikki Haley makes history with Washington DC victory

The justices found that only Congress can enforce the provision against federal officeholders and candidates.

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.

The former president’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 6 January riots.

In a bid to prevent Congress from certifying Mr Biden’s 2020 election victory, Trump supporters attacked police, broke through barricades and swarmed the Capitol.

Trump had given an incendiary speech to supporters beforehand, repeating his false claims of widespread voting fraud and telling them to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell”.

Then, for a number of hours, he ignored requests for him to urge the mob to stop.

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.

Ruling from top US court was not unexpected

This is a sweeping victory for Donald Trump, but it isn’t a great surprise.

It was all about whether Donald Trump was disqualified from running again for president because of his involvement in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The Supreme Court in Colorado (each state has its own top court) had concluded he was involved in an insurrection and that this fact disqualified him from running for president under a clause in the US Constitution’s 14th amendment.

Two other states, Maine and Illinois, made similar decisions.

But now the US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled that individual states do not have the authority to determine whether a presidential candidate is ineligible under a provision of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

The justices’ ruling makes it clear the US Congress, not individual states, set rules on how the 14th Amendment provision can be enforced.

“Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the states, responsible for enforcing section 3 against all federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse,” the ruling said.

This means the decision applies to all states, not just Colorado.

The top court is often accused of being politically driven because the justices are appointed by the president.

It’s currently weighted towards conservatives.

But in this case, the ruling was unanimous – 9-0, undermining any suggestion of political motivation.

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