(NewsNation) — The Supreme Court on Monday overturned Colorado’s highest court’s decision to exclude former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballot in a 9-0 vote.
“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” justices wrote in their ruling. “But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”
Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled in December that Trump should be disqualified from the state’s primary ballot under Article III of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots.
On Truth Social after the decision came out, Trump wrote that it is a “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
A section of that amendment reads: “No person shall hold any office, civil or military, under the United States who, having previously taken an oath to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
Plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit seeking to disqualify Trump were four Republican voters and two unaffiliated voters. They argued the president is an officer of the United States, as “it would make no sense to read Section 3 as disqualifying all oath-breaking insurrectionists except the one holding the highest office in the land.”
Both liberal and conservative judges expressed some skepticism toward that argument, such as Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who asked: “What’s a state doing deciding who other citizens get to vote for for president?”
Lawyer Jason Clifford Murray, representing those challenging Trump being on Colorado’s ballot, said in oral arguments that Colorado isn’t doing this.
Instead, he said, Colorado is “deciding how to assign its own electors under its Article II powers.”
“Different states can have different procedures,” Murray said. “Some states may allow insurrectionists to be on the ballot.”
Jonathan Mitchell, Trump’s lead lawyer, argued at the U.S. Supreme Court the former president didn’t lead an insurrection and therefore shouldn’t be disqualified. Mitchell said the section in question doesn’t apply to Trump, claiming the former president never told his supporters to enter the Capitol, and “he did not lead, direct, or encourage any of the unlawful acts that occurred” there.
“Giving a passionate political speech and telling supporters to metaphorically ‘fight like hell’ for their beliefs is not insurrection either,” Mitchell said.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.
