The Supreme Court is now almost certain to hear a case about whether former President Donald Trump is eligible to run for president again, and no one really knows for sure whether he is or not.
On Tuesday evening, Colorado’s highest court handed down a stunning decision holding that former President Donald Trump “is disqualified from holding the office of President” under Section Three of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Because of this, the court determined that Trump’s name may not appear on the 2024 Republican primary ballot.
Broadly speaking, the 14th Amendment prohibits former high-ranking government officials who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution of the United States from serving in high office again. The court determined that Trump’s incitement of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol meets the Constitution’s definition of an “insurrection.”
The case is called Anderson v. Griswold, and it would be quite surprising if the Supreme Court didn’t take up this case.
The questions the Court will need to consider in Anderson, and most likely in future cases questioning whether Trump is eligible to be president, are novel and difficult. But there is a very strong formal legal argument, based on the text of the 14th Amendment, that Trump’s attempt to overthrow a presidential election does disqualify him from office.
That said, there are serious procedural flaws with the process Colorado’s courts used to determine that Trump is ineligible. This does not mean that Trump should ultimately be allowed to run for president in 2024, but it does suggest that the US Supreme Court should reverse the Colorado justices’ Anderson opinion and defer resolution of whether or not Trump is eligible for a future case.
And there is also a strong practical argument against allowing Trump to be removed from the ballot, at least before he is convicted of a crime arising out of his violation of his…
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