(New York) The possibility of intervention by the Supreme Court of the United States to determine whether Donald Trump is eligible to run in the 2024 presidential election is becoming clearer.
In a landmark ruling Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ordered Colorado’s secretary of state to exclude the former president’s name from ballots used in Colorado’s Republican primary. this state on March 5.
Overruling a trial judge’s decision, four of the court’s seven judges concluded that the 45e President is disqualified under Article 3 of 14e amendment to the American Constitution.
Passed after the Civil War, this section prohibits persons who participated in an insurrection or rebellion from holding government office. It had never been invoked against a presidential candidate.
Colorado’s highest court therefore concluded that Donald Trump participated in an insurrection on January 6, 2021.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the majority wrote in its decision. “We are aware of the scale and weight of the questions that confront us. We are also conscious of our solemn duty to enforce the law, without fear or favor, and without being influenced by public reaction to the decisions the law requires us to make. »
The Colorado Supreme Court, all of whose members were appointed by Democratic governors, stayed its decision until Jan. 4, or until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case. Colorado’s secretary of state has set Jan. 5 as the date the state must print ballots for the Republican primary.
The last word at the Supreme Court
Donald Trump’s campaign team has promised it will quickly appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court, which has the final say on constitutional issues.
“The Colorado Supreme Court made a completely wrong decision [mardi] evening and we will quickly file an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States and a simultaneous request to stay this deeply undemocratic decision, “said Steven Cheung, spokesperson for the Donald Trump campaign team, in a communicated. “We are confident that the United States Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these anti-American lawsuits. »
Donald Trump did not mention the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in an evening speech in Iowa.
He was previously impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting insurrection following his supporters’ violent assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was acquitted by the Senate.
He has also been criminally charged in Washington and Georgia for his efforts to cling to power following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump’s ineligibility in Colorado would not be fatal to him in itself. It would probably not prevent him from winning the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. His chances of winning Colorado in the presidential election are otherwise slim. In 2020, he lost to Joe Biden in the state by 13.5 percentage points.
But his disqualification in Colorado could influence courts or officials in key states, including Minnesota, New Hampshire and Michigan, where similar lawsuits have been filed.
By validating the Colorado decision, the United States Supreme Court could extend the disqualification of Donald Trump to the entire country.
The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which sued Donald Trump in Colorado on behalf of six Republican and independent voters, welcomed a decision “not only historic and justified, but also necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country.
“Our Constitution clearly states that those who violate their oath of office by attacking our democracy are barred from holding government office,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
In the first place
In a decision rendered last month, trial judge Sarah Wallace recognized that Donald Trump had participated in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 by calling on his supporters to march on the Capitol. But she had affirmed that article 3 of 14e amendment did not apply to him because the office of president is not mentioned in the article along with those of vice president, senator or representative, among others.
The majority of Colorado Supreme Court judges rejected this reasoning, which had been defended by Donald Trump’s lawyer.
“President Trump is asking us to affirm that Section 3 disqualifies all but the most powerful sworn insurrectionists and bars sworn insurrectionists from virtually all offices, both at the federal and state levels, with the exception of the highest office in the land,” the majority wrote in its decision. “Both of these results are inconsistent with the plain language and history of Section 3.”
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Carlos Samour argued that Donald Trump could not be declared ineligible for the presidency “without normal legal process.”
“Even if we are convinced that a candidate has committed horrific acts in the past – dare I say, engaged in an insurrection – there must be due process before we can declare that this person is disqualified from holding public office,” he wrote.
According to conservative jurists who concluded that Donald Trump was not eligible, this legal procedure is not necessary. In a long and scholarly article posted online on August 14, William Baude and Michael Stokes, two eminent law professors attached to the Federalist Society, argued that Article 3 is “self-executing.”
What do the justices of the United States Supreme Court think? The answer may be imminent.