The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that Donald Trump can stay on the election ballot in Colorado, handing the former president a landmark legal victory in his quest to return to the White House.
It was a fatal blow for a group of states trying to kick Trump off the ballot and came just 24 hours before 15 states vote on Super Tuesday.
In an immediate reaction Trump declared on his Truth Social network: ‘BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!’
He reportedly called the ruling ‘unifying’ and ‘inspirational’.
The 9-0 decision by the conservative-majority court in the high-stakes case means the Republican frontrunner’s name will appear on voting slips in the Colorado Republican primary tomorrow.
It also effectively ends efforts in other states, including Illinois and Maine, to disqualify him from running in the 2024 general election over claims his conduct on January 6, 2021 amounted to ‘insurrection’.
The former president, 77, has now cleared one of the major hurdles to his campaign before his likely rematch with President Joe Biden in the November general election.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Donald Trump can stay on the election ballot in a fatal blow for the states trying to kick him off and just 24 hours before 15 states vote for Super Tuesday
Anti-Trump demonstrators protest outside the US Supreme Court before the court decided whether former US President Donald Trump is eligible to run for president in the 2024 election in Washington, DC, on February 8, 2024
The decision by the conservative-majority court means the Republican frontrunner’s name will appear on voting slips in the Colorado primary
The justices reversed a previous ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court which kicked Trump off the ballot in that state.
Colorado decided that Trump was barred under the so-called ‘insurrection clause’ – Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Civil War-era amendment prohibits those who have ‘engaged in insurrection’ from holding federal office.
In a 20-page ruling the U.S. Supreme Court Justices said only Congress can decide if Trump is, or is not, eligible to run.
‘States may not unilaterally disqualify Donald Trump from the ballot’, the judgment read. ‘The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court is reversed.
”Responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States. The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand. All nine Members of the Court agree with that result.’
The justices added: ‘Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse.
“Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos.’
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va
Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold urged the Supreme Court to keep Trump off the ballot so ‘votes are not wasted on ineligible candidates’
Members of the media set up their work area outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices hear arguments in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling disqualifying him from the Colorado presidential primary ballot, in Washington, U.S., February 8, 2024
The ruling went on: ‘This case raises the question whether the States, in addition to Congress, may also enforce Section 3. We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office.
‘But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.’
The justices also warned against trying to pursue the insurrection clause after the election.
They wrote: ‘The disruption would be all the more acute – and could nullify the votes of millions and change the election result – if Section 3 enforcement were attempted after the Nation has voted.’
The Supreme Court was united on the idea that Donald Trump will remain on the ballot in Colorado and that the state cannot unilaterally dump him off the ballot.
However, the justices were divided about how broadly the decision would apply.
A narrow 5-4 majority said that no state could dump a federal candidate off any ballot – with four justices asserting that the court should have limited its opinion.
Trump has dominated the Republican primaries so far, with his final rival Nikki Haley only winning one contest in Washington D.C. on Sunday night, with just over 2,000 voters taking part.
As Haley celebrated victory, the Supreme Court issued a surprising update saying opinions would be released on Monday, just 24 hours before Colorado headed to the polls in the GOP primary.
The decisions of Colorado, Illinois and Maine to bar Trump were based on the argument that he breached the 14th Amendment by ‘engaging in insurrection or rebellion’ on January 6, 2021.
Trump challenged the ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court, leading to Monday’s decision.
Voting in the state of Colorado began in February, as 831,705 voters have already cast their ballots, according to the Secretary of State.
Trump’s name was left on the ballot pending the Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court decision effectively ends a legal effort by leftist activists across the country to remove Trump from ballots in various states, with the goal of preventing him from running a successful presidential campaign in 2024.
The lawsuit in Colorado was filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Students walk past the US Supreme Court on the day the justices ruled unanimously that the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause will not prevent former US President Trump from appearing on Colorado’s election ballot
Justices on the court expressed skepticism during oral arguments in February that Trump could be barred from running through the constitution
They argued that Trump was guilty of insurrection because of his role in sparking the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill protesting the certification of the 2020 presidential elections.
Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold has persistently urged the highest court in the U.S. to keep Trump off the ballot.
In a brief to the Supreme Court file in January she called the presidential candidate an ‘ineligible insurrectionist’.
She added that it was her duty to protect the ‘maximum enfranchisement’ of Coloradan’s voting rights.
Her responsibility, she added, was to make sure ‘votes are not wasted on ineligible candidates.’
Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism during oral arguments in February that Trump could be barred from running.
They indicated then that states did not have the legal standing to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, citing the danger of one state being able to decide who could be the president of the United States.
Three of the justices – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – were nominated by Trump.