The Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday in a historic challenge to Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the ballot, thrusting the high court into a raucous election as it threatens to abruptly end the former president’s campaign for a second term.
Not since the court decided Bush v. Gore after the 2000 election have the nine justices been asked to dig into a case so intertwined with an ongoing presidential election. Though the appeal is ostensibly about Colorado’s ballot, both sides acknowledge the decision later this year will have nationwide implications.
Standing before the justices inside the ornate courtroom, a lawyer representing the six voters who challenged Trump’s eligibility will argue a post-Civil War “insurrection ban” in the 14th Amendment bars the frontrunner for the GOP nomination from serving again because of his actions leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
A lawyer for Trump will argue that the provision doesn’t apply to a former president.
The court scheduled 80 minutes for the arguments that will kick off shortly after 10 a.m. ET, but the justices regularly blow past the set time on more mundane matters. It is more likely that they will press the attorneys arguing before them for hours.
Though sometimes inconclusive, arguments often provide important insight into how the justices are thinking about the questions before them. While the debate may not decide the outcome of a case, they can shape the behind-the-curtain wrangling that unfolds as the justices stake out positions and begin drafting opinions.
“You can definitely get a sense of what the justices care about from how the oral argument goes,” said Kermit Roosevelt, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. “You can’t…
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