Trump ballot disqualification bid gets skeptical US Supreme Court reception

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Thursday appeared skeptical toward a judicial decision kicking former President Donald Trump off the ballot in Colorado for participating in an insurrection during the 2021 Capitol attack in a case with major implications for the Nov. 5 election.

The nine justices heard arguments in Trump's appeal of a Dec. 19 ruling by Colorado's top court to disqualify him from the state's Republican primary ballot under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment after finding that he participated in an insurrection.

Trump, who did not attend, is the overwhelming frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars from holding public office any "officer of the United States" who took an oath "to support the Constitution of the United States" and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

The justices spent a considerable amount of time mulling the proper way that states may enforce Section 3 against candidates, primarily focusing whether Congress must first pass legislation.