On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that states cannot disqualify presidential candidates under a constitutional provision involving insurrection, reversing Colorado’s exclusion of former President Donald Trump from its ballot.
The case stemmed from the Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision that he should be “disqualified from holding the office of president” over his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, overturning a district court judge’s ruling that found that Trump could not be barred from the state’s primary ballot because it was unclear whether the 14th Amendment insurrection provision included the presidency or not.
Supreme Court Justices determined that “this case raises the question whether the States, in addition to Congress, may also enforce Section 3 (of the 14th Amendment). 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.”
Although the ruling was unanimous, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Brown-Jackson, and Coney Barrett thought that it went further than necessary to resolve the basic question of the case. However, as the latter highlighted, “the Court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a Presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up.”
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