What Happened:
The Colorado Supreme Court made a historic 4-3 decision to remove Trump from the ballot due to a civil war-era insurrection clause. That decision was formally appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Both the Colorado Republican Party and Trump’s legal team submitted appeals to the case.
The Republican Party’s appeal is based on the language in the clause and whether or not the clause is “self-executing” or requires Congressional action. Trump’s legal team submitted only one question: “Did the Colorado Supreme Court err in ordering President Trump to be excluded from the 2024 ballot?” The Colorado Supreme Court’s argument is that Trump took steps to undermine the democratic process and the peaceful transfer of power.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case two days later. As of now, the court is deliberating on whether to uphold Colorado’s court ruling or to side with the Colorado Republican Party.
The Details:
Reviewing and deliberating this case is difficult for a number of reasons. First, there is very little precedent for the judges to go off of. Along with that, there is very little legal theory that they can go off of. Although their initial reactions are not official, it certainly seems like the SCOTUS justices are skeptical of Colorado’s ruling; they have not yet seen the entire documentation from either team and are currently going through it now.
Trump’s legal team is fighting every aspect of the case, most notably how they define January 6. Under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, it forbids an individual who swore an oath to the Constitution and then “engaged in rebellion” against it. Trump’s lawyers are trying to argue that Trump did not participate in or incite a rebellion. They argue it was more of a riot, which they allege is not “close enough” to a rebellion, which would make Colorado’s case fail the criteria.
Legal experts before the case was heard viewed the Supreme Court as most likely siding with Trump because they would not want to wade into politics. So far, the Justices have questioned whether a state can unilaterally remove a presidential candidate from the ballot without the action of Congress.
What’s Next:
This is a hard question to answer. Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed some concerns of the consequences of allowing a candidate to be removed from the ballot, but also reiterated that the concerns of the Colorado Supreme Court are valid and should be explored and discussed.
The Colorado case follows another important case Trump is defending in the Supreme Court. Trump is allegedly trying to prevent the fast-tracking of his election interference case. He is either trying to prevent the case from happening or delaying it until it has no impact on his most likely general election campaign against President Biden. The hearings to determine that case will be held in a few weeks.
This is an ongoing situation.