Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump reacts at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
- The 9-0 decision from the Justices says the responsibility for enforcing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States.
Former President Donald Trump won a major legal victory on Monday, as the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision that kicked him off of the state’s ballot using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, otherwise referred to as the “insurrection clause.”
Read the full U.S. Supreme Court ruling here.
The 9-0 ruling from the Court states that the responsibility for enforcing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States.
“The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand,” the court decision states. “All nine Members of the Court agree with that result.”
The decision goes on to state:
The “patchwork” that would likely result from state enforcement would “sever the direct link that the Framers found so critical between the National Government and the people of the United States” as a whole. But in a Presidential election “the impact of the votes cast in each State is affected by the votes cast”— or, in this case, the votes not allowed to be cast—“for the various candidates in other States.” An evolving electoral map could dramatically change the behavior of voters, parties, and States across the country, in different ways and at different times. The disruption would be all the more acute—and could nullify the votes of millions and change the election result—if Section 3 enforcement were attempted after the Nation has voted. Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos—arriving at any time or different times, up to and perhaps beyond the Inauguration.
The former President responded to the news, posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, with simply, “Big win for America!!!”
As previously reported, the case against the former President and current Republican frontrunner in Trump v. Anderson was brought by six Colorado voters being represented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. It centers on his alleged role in an “insurrection” related to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. However, Trump has yet to be tried and convicted of such claims in any court in the nation.
RELATED: Justices appear skeptical of kicking Trump off Colorado ballot
It is the first time in U.S. history that the nation’s highest court has heard arguments and ruled on disqualifying a presidential candidate using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
Trump was also barred from the ballot in Maine in a decision that came by way of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, and in Illinois from a ruling from Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter. Both actions were on hold pending Trump’s appeals and the decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Colorado voters are set to vote on Tuesday in their state’s Primary Election.
Frank Corder
