All eyes are now on the US Supreme Court — which is poised to play a major role in the 2024 election as it sits on a series of major Trump — related cases,…writes TN Ashok
Legal experts across the US opine that all is not lost yet for ex-President Donald Trump found unfit for running for Presidency in 2024 by a Colorado Supreme Court under Article 3A of the 14th amendment on the basis of “insurrection on Capitol Hill on January 6”, as the judges in a split verdict 4-3 paused the ruling, allowing Trump to appeal in the US Supreme Court.
Legal experts, however, agree that the decision would not be the final word.
All eyes are now on the US Supreme Court — which is poised to play a major role in the 2024 election as it sits on a series of major Trump — related cases, media reports said.
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The Colorado Supreme Court made history on Tuesday with an unprecedented, “freeze-in-your-tracks” ruling that former President Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run in 2024 because of the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office which defined and covered his conduct on January 6, 2021.
His supporters attacked the Congress in an effort to prevent election authorities from certifying and declaring the verdict that chose Joe Biden as President.
Trump faces a swathe of charges in the federal court in Washington DC and the Fulton County Court in Georgia where he is accused of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election verdict, conspiracy to prevent election authorities from certifying a valid election process to declare duly elected Joe Biden as President and racketeering charges under the RICO act for allegedly intimidating court officials and witnesses on phones and emails through his supports.
But importantly, in their 4-3 decision, the Colorado justices paused their decision so Trump can appeal to the US Supreme Court, which his campaign managers said he will “swiftly” do.
The pause means Trump’s spot on the Colorado GOP primary ballot in March might be safe, if the nation’s highest court does not settle the matter quickly, legal experts said.
The unprecedented landmark ruling holds Trump accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 election and provides a political punishment for his anti-democratic behaviour.
The ruling is also a massive vindication for the liberal groups and constitutional scholars of all stripes who championed such 14th Amendment lawsuits despite their long odds, legal pundits told CNN when contacted.
Trump has mastered the art of converting legal setbacks into polling bounces, CNN said, adding that he is already in a stronger position today to beat President Joe Biden than he was one year ago, before he was criminally indicted in four jurisdictions.
The top Colorado court upheld the trial judge’s conclusions that the January 6 assault on the US Capitol was an insurrection and that Trump “engaged in” that insurrection. These are key legal hurdles that the challengers needed to clear before Trump could be removed from any ballot, largely because the text of the 14th Amendment does not actually define an “insurrection” or spell out what it means to “engage in” insurrection.
Trump has unsuccessfully pushed this argument in state and federal courts, which found that he incited violence when he told supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” and “fight like hell” to “take back our country”.
“President Trump incited and encouraged the use of violence and lawless action to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” the justices wrote in the 134-page majority opinion.
Republicans Back Trump Over Colorado SC Ruling
Angry over Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling declaring former US President Donald Trump unfit to run for Presidency in 2024 under the 14th amendment, GOP Republicans are calling for President Joe Biden’s removal from the state presidential ballots with one of them citing the failure to control influx of immigrants.
Some Republicans have said Biden, too, should be removed from state ballots, the media reported.
Newsweek said in an analysis of the Colorado SC’s decision impacting the electoral fortunes of Trump in 2024.
Anthony Sabatini, a Republican running for Congress in Florida’s 11th district who previously served as a Florida state representative, wrote on X: “Remove Biden from the Florida ballot now!”
Speaking to Fox News, Texas Lt Governor Dan Patrick suggested Biden should be removed from his state’s 2024 ballot due to his administration’s response to immigration at the US-Mexico border.
“Seeing what happened in Colorado makes me think –except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing eight million people to cross the border since he’s been president disrupting our state,” Patrick said.
Political commentator Gunther Eagleman posted on X that Biden should be removed from the Texas ballot after the Colorado ruling.
In a 4-3 decision on Wednesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the former president violated the 14th Amendment, which bars public officials from holding federal office if they have engaged in insurrection.
In November, a lower court in Colorado admitted to a group of Colorado voters including Norma Anderson, a petitioner and former Republican majority leader of the Colorado House and Senate, that Trump engaged in insurrection over his behavior during the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
During the siege, Trump supporters stormed the building protesting his election loss.
Trump, the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged with insurrection.
He has argued that courts do not have the authority to bar candidates from the ballot under the constitutional provision.
The Colorado Supreme Court said in its ruling: “A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President… even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President Mike Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes. These actions constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection.”
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