The Supreme Court will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be excluded from state presidential ballots after the Colorado Supreme Court determined that he had violated the so-called “Insurrection Clause” of the Constitution.
In a brief order Friday night, the high court announced it will hear arguments Feb. 8 in the 77-year-old’s challenge to the Centennial State ruling, which was temporarily removed from the March 5 Republican primary ballot in the state.
Since voters have already voted in primaries and caucuses across the country by the time the case is heard, a decision is likely to be made quickly.
The Colorado decision, handed down on December 19, cited Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results that led to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot as evidence that he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits those who have violated their oath of office and “engage in an insurrection” from holding high office again.
In an appeal filed Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers argued that “[i]In our system of ‘government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,’ Colorado’s ruling is not and cannot be correct.”
“The question of eligibility to serve as president of the United States is properly reserved for Congress, not the state courts, to consider and decide,” the document adds.
The Supreme Court next month will hear former President Donald Trump’s challenge to his removal from the Colorado ballot. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“By considering the question of President Trump’s eligibility and excluding him from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court arrogated to itself the authority of Congress.”
The former president’s legal team argued for the Colorado decision to be overturned on three grounds: first, that the presidency was not among the positions covered by Section 3; second, that the Colorado Supreme Court had erroneously described the 45th president as having “participated” in the violence that day; and third, that the court violated the Constitution by intervening in the matter.
The Colorado Supreme Court stayed its own ruling pending Trump’s appeal, and Secretary of State Jena Griswold confirmed on Dec. 28 that Trump would remain on the 2024 primary ballot unless the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision. of the state court.
The Colorado decision, handed down on December 19, cited Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results that led to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot as evidence that he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. AFP via Getty Images
The original lawsuit to keep Trump out of the Colorado election was filed by a group of voters under the auspices of the liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
“This case is of utmost national importance,” attorneys for the Colorado plaintiffs told the Supreme Court. “And given the upcoming presidential primary schedule, there is no time to wait for the issues to percolate further. “The Court should resolve this case on an expedited timeline, so that voters in Colorado and elsewhere know whether Trump is indeed constitutionally ineligible when they cast their ballots in the primary.”
Maine Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows separately disqualified Trump from her state’s vote on Dec. 28, saying the Capitol riot “occurred at the behest and with the knowledge and support of the outgoing president.”
In their appeal filed Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers argued that “[i]In our system of ‘government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,’ Colorado’s ruling is not and cannot be correct.” AP
The former president is separately appealing Bellows’ decision in Maine state court.
Other challenges to Trump’s election eligibility, heard in states including Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia, have been dismissed by state and federal judges.
“We welcome a fair hearing at the Supreme Court to argue against the Democratic-backed, Biden-led, election-interfering, voter-suppressing, bad-faith, 14th Amendment-abusive decision to eliminate the President Trump’s name from the state’s 2024 ballot. of Colorado,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “The so-called ‘ballot challenge cases’ are all part of a well-funded effort by left-wing political activists hell-bent on stopping President Trump’s legal re-election in November, even if it means disenfranchising voters.
“President Trump is dominating the polls and the Biden presidency has failed all Americans,” Cheung added. “We are confident that the impartial Supreme Court will unanimously affirm President Trump’s civil rights and the voting rights of all Americans in a ruling that will crush all remaining hoaxes over election challenges once and for all.”
The Supreme Court has never before ruled on a case involving Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which has been invoked at least eight times since its enactment in 1868.
Five of those actions were taken against former Confederates, one of whom, Zebulon Vance, was elected to the Senate from North Carolina after the Civil War and served in that position for 15 years.
In September 2022, a New Mexico judge removed Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from office after he was found guilty of trespassing in connection with the Capitol riot.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn