Shortly before Christmas, the Colorado Supreme Court dropped a bombshell opinion ruling that former President Donald Trump must be removed from the 2024 ballot because of his failed effort to overturn the 2020 election and his successful incitement of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. Maine’s top elections official reached a similar conclusion about a week later, removing Trump from the ballot in that state.
This issue is now barreling toward the US Supreme Court, in a case now known as Colorado Republican State Central Committee v. Anderson.
Last Wednesday, the Colorado Republican Party asked the justices to take up the question of whether Trump may serve as president after attempting to overthrow the US government. While many of the Colorado GOP’s arguments are meritless and should not be taken seriously by any court, they are correct about one thing: The Supreme Court needs to resolve this case as fast as it can.
Indeed, the plaintiffs in the Anderson litigation — six Colorado voters who seek to remove Trump from the ballot in that state — agree with the GOP that the US Supreme Court needs to hear this case on an expedited basis. They filed their own brief explaining that “voting in Colorado happens mostly by mail and will begin for in-state residents once the ballots are mailed out on February 12.” Accordingly, they “propose a schedule that will allow for briefing and argument in time for a [Supreme Court] decision by February 11.”
The case turns on a previously obscure provision of the 14th Amendment, which provides that anyone who previously held a high office requiring them to swear an oath supporting the Constitution is forbidden from holding a similar office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against that Constitution.
The Colorado Supreme Court concluded that Trump engaged in an “insurrection” because he spent months falsely claiming that the 2020 election was “rigged.” He encouraged his supporters to…
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