On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned a Colorado court decision that prohibited former President Donald Trump from participating in the state’s Republican presidential primary due to an insurrection clause in the U.S. Constitution.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, no state will be able to utilize the 14th Amendment’s Section 3’s insurrection clause to prevent Trump or any other candidate from running for president or Congress.
As per Section 3, an individual who has taken an oath of federal office and subsequently “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States is unable to hold an officer position in the country. First among three states to prevent Trump from running in a primary, Colorado did so because of his claimed instigation of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, which interfered with President Joe Biden’s Electoral College win against the incumbent Trump. According to the decision, “We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office.” “However, the Constitution forbids States from enforcing Section 3 with regard to federal offices, particularly the presidency.”
The court stated, “For the reasons given, Congress and not the States are responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates.” “Therefore, the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision cannot be upheld.” In response to the decision, Trump, who is the overwhelming frontrunner to win the Republican presidential nominee, posted on Truth Social, “HUGE WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
Later, Trump stated, “The voters can take someone out of the race very quickly, but a court shouldn’t be doing that and the Supreme Court said that very well,” in a speech from his Florida residence.
He remarked, “I think it will go a long way toward bringing our country together, which our country needs. It was a very important decision, very well-crafted.”
Following the decision, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told MSNBC, “My larger reaction is disappointment.” Griswold stated, “I do think that states should be able to bar oath-breaking insurrectionists under our Constitution.” It was not surprising that the former president would receive any votes he receives on Tuesday’s Colorado ballot. Barrett stated, “Colorado voters filed this lawsuit in state court pursuant to state law.” “It spares us from having to tackle the difficult question of whether federal law is the only means by which Section 3 may be implemented.”
During the session, progressive justice Elena Kagan addressed the attorney representing the six Colorado voters who were seeking Trump’s disqualification. “I think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States,” Kagan remarked. However, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the only other liberal justices on the court, joined Kagan in concurring with the five conservative justices’ conclusion that “a disqualification for insurrection can only occur when Congress enacts a particular kind of legislation pursuant to Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
“In my opinion, this is not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency,” Barrett continued.
In the turbulent period leading up to a presidential election, “the Court has settled a politically charged issue,” she said. “Writings on the Court should, in this particular situation, lower rather than raise the national temperature.”
