U.S. Supreme Court restores presidential candidate Donald Trump to Colorado ballot

Sunday, March 10, 2024

File photo of the U.S. Supreme Court as composed since June 30, 2022.
Image: Fred Schilling.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in Trump v. Anderson, reversing a Colorado Supreme Court decision that had deemed Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, ineligible for Colorado's 2024 presidential Republican primary due to involvement in the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. The justices ruled the responsibility to disqualify a presidential candidate under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution "rests with Congress and not the States."

The central issue in the case was whether Donald Trump, a candidate for the Republican nomination, was correctly ruled ineligible by the Colorado Supreme Court. The Colorado court found Trump's actions constituted an insurrection in opposition to the U.S. Constitution, disqualifying him from being president.

No one may hold an office if they have taken an oath "to support the Constitution" while in certain roles but "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against it following that, the Fourteenth Amendment stated.

The case began with a petition by voters from the state in September aiming to have Trump be denied ballot access. While Trump did commit insurrection, a trial court in Colorado found, the president and presidency were not covered by Section 3. After the latter facet of the decision was overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court, Trump sought review from the U.S. Supreme Court.


Sources