U.S. Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Trump’s Colorado Ballot Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a state court’s decision disqualifying former President Donald Trump from appearing on Colorado’s primary ballot this year.
Oral arguments are scheduled to commence Feb. 8.
The court’s decision Friday to take up the case follows a Colorado Supreme Court ruling in December that Trump is ineligible for office because he violated the 14th Amendment, which states that anyone who took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution but then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the nation must be barred from state or federal office.
That decision cited Trump’s role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s been charged with four federal crimes over the attempted coup to remain in the White House despite losing the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, and the trial is scheduled to start in March.
Following the Colorado ruling, Trump’s attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn the state-level decision before the state nominating process begins this month.
“We welcome a fair hearing at the Supreme Court to argue against the bad-faith, election-interfering, voter-suppressing, Democrat-backed and Biden-led, 14th Amendment abusing decision to remove President Trump’s name from the 2024 ballot in the state of Colorado,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement Friday.
“We are confident that the fair-minded Supreme Court will unanimously affirm the civil rights of President Trump, and the voting rights of all Americans in a ruling that will squash all of the remaining ballot challenge hoaxes once and for all,” Cheung added.
Just over a week after the Colorado decision, Maine’s secretary of state said Trump’s alleged 14th Amendment violations had precluded him from appearing on ballots in her state as well.
In total, there are legal challenges questioning Trump’s eligibility for office in more than a dozen states, but a Supreme Court ruling on the matter would settle it for the whole country.
The nation’s highest court is dominated by conservatives and packed with three Trump nominees who, so far, have proved loyal to the former president’s interests.
