US Supreme Court decision on Trump-Colorado ballot case 'monumental' for democracy itself, not just 2024 presidential election

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Momentous questions for the U.S. Supreme Court and momentous consequences for the country are likely now that the court has announced it will decide whether former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is eligible to appear on the Colorado ballot.

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The Conversation

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https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-trump-colorado-ballot-case-monumental-for-democracy-itself-not-just-2024-presidential-election-220643

Retrieved on:

Saturday, January 6, 2024

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State, Trump, Stanford University, Decision-making, Republican Party, Civil War, Anglo-French Wars, Supreme court, Court, The Washington Post, Constitution, Supreme, Colorado Supreme Court, GOP, Republican, Time, History

Geotags:

NOTRE DAME, NICARAGUA, MAINE, COLORADO

Summary

Key Points:

Momentous questions for the U.S. Supreme Court and momentous consequences for the country are likely now that the court has announced it will decide whether former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is eligible to appear on the Colorado ballot.
The court’s decision to consider the issue comes in the wake of Colorado’s highest court ruling that Trump had engaged in insurrection and therefore was barred from appearing on the state’s GOP primary ballot by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Maine’s secretary of state also barred Trump from the state’s primary ballot, and more than a dozen other states are also considering similar moves.

It’s the first time it has kept a presidential candidate off the ballot, much less a former one and the apparent frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination.
This was an extraordinary major decision from the Colorado Supreme Court.
I think the decision to grant only Trump’s case is a decision to make this as streamlined a process as possible.
Will whatever decision the court makes put to rest the ballot access questions in all the other states?
Those are months when the court is in recess, and they would have to come back from their summer vacation early.
They’ve scheduled oral argument on Feb. 8, 2024 so they want to move on as quickly as possible to put this to rest.

The two general points are that I think states have the power to judge the qualifications of presidential candidates and keep them off the ballot.
And states have done that over the years to say if you were born in Nicaragua, or you’re 27 years old, we’re going to keep you off the ballot.
You can look throughout history, going back to the 1890s, where ineligible candidates’ names have been printed and put on the ballot.
And we know that there’s Super Tuesday the first Tuesday of March when a significant number of states hold presidential primaries.

I filed an amicus brief on my own behalf in support of neither party in the Colorado Supreme Court.