The US Supreme Court said on Friday that it will examine the historic ruling made by the Colorado Supreme Court to exclude former President Donald Trump from running for office in that state.
Oral arguments were slated by the court for February 8.
Because the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the lower court’s disqualification of Trump, he is still included on the primary ballot. Any votes cast for Trump would be invalidated if the courts decide he is not qualified to hold public office.
The Supreme Court’s decision to take up the case places the nine justices squarely in the middle of the 2024 election, just as early primary voting is about to begin. This is the court’s largest involvement in a presidential race since its landmark ruling in Bush v. Gore 23 years prior.
The decision made by the state court last month almost guaranteed that the justices would have to hear the contentious issue and decide whether or not Trump could be struck from the ballot. Although the Colorado decision is limited to that state, courts in several other states have examined challenges to Trump’s eligibility; however, none of these cases have progressed as far as the Colorado finding.
Trump’s campaign filed an appeal in state court on Tuesday after the secretary of state in Maine withdrew him from the state’s 2024 primary ballot last week. Because of his involvement in the January 6, 2021, uprising, the Oregon Supreme Court may also rule shortly on a request to remove Trump from the state’s primary and general election ballots. This highlights the pressing necessity for the judges in Washington to respond swiftly in the Colorado case.
The Trump campaign declared that it is in favor of a “fair hearing” on the Colorado ballot dispute at the Supreme Court.
“The so-called ‘ballot-challenge cases’ are all part of a well-funded effort by left-wing, political activists hell-bent on stopping the lawful reelection of,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. President Trump this November, even if it means disenfranchising voters.” “We have faith that the impartial Supreme Court will uphold President Trump’s civil rights and everyone else’s ability to vote in a unanimous decision.”
Attorney Sean Grimsley, who sought the Supreme Court to hear the issue on behalf of the petitioners contesting Trump’s eligibility, on Friday night that he was “grateful” for the ruling of the top court.
Grimsley said to Erica Hill on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” “We’re also pleased the court is setting it on an expedited schedule,” and he anticipated the justices would reach a decision well in advance of the state’s primary on March 5.
Colorado’s top election official certified the 2024 presidential primary ballots with Trump’s name on the Republican ballot on Friday, putting the decision on hold while the US Supreme Court decides how to handle the issue. Votes for Trump would be invalidated if the courts determined before Colorado’s primary that he is not qualified for public office.
On Wednesday, one week after the Colorado Republican Party also requested that the issue be heard by the justices, Trump filed an appeal of the ruling with the US Supreme Court. According to the startling 4-3 ruling last month, Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, are covered by the 14th Amendment’s bar on insurrectionists holding office, making him constitutionally ineligible to run for office in 2024.
The former president’s lawyers said in their court appeal that Colorado’s decision “is not and cannot be correct” under our system of “government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people.”
In the brief, they contended that the Colorado Supreme Court erred in describing President Trump’s involvement in the events of January 6, 2021. “It wasn’t ‘insurrection,’ and President Trump didn’t ‘engage’ in it in any manner.”
The Trump ballot issue was scheduled to be heard by the court on an incredibly short notice.
By January 18, Trump is expected to submit his opening brief in the case. By January 31, Colorado voters who are contesting his eligibility for office will submit their opening arguments.
This timeline highlights how swiftly the justices are deciding to proceed by cutting the standard briefing schedule down to one-third of its original length.
The ruling in this case does not specify the votes cast by each justice, as is customary for the court in similar circumstances.
House Democrats put pressure on Justice Clarence Thomas to step down from the lawsuit right once after he became involved in it because of his wife’s conservative advocacy and attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
In a letter addressed to Thomas on Thursday, eight Democrats contend that it is “unthinkable” that the conservative justice could be unbiased in determining whether the event qualified as an insurrection because of his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ participation in the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6.
“It is unreasonable to conclude your wife’s fervent views do not bleed over to and affect your opinions, and affect your ability to be impartial in a case about Mr. Trump’s efforts to prevent the orderly transition of power,” the legislators stated in their letter. “There is no evidence that her views about the 2020 election have softened.”
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Grimsley, that they do not intend to request that Thomas disqualify himself.
“We do not currently plan to seek recusal, but we might change our minds if something came out that we are unaware of,” he said on Friday.
Thomas or any other justice may later withdraw their participation.
In response to the Democrats’ plea for recusal, has contacted the Supreme Court.
On Friday night, Trump expressed his hope that the three judges he nominated to the Supreme Court—Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett—would be “fair.”
Trump declared, “All I want is fair,” during a Sioux Centre, Iowa, campaign event. “I had to fight pretty hard to get in three really good guys. They are wonderful, intelligent folks.
