Supreme Court Reverses Colorado Decision to Ban Trump From 2024 Ballot
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Colorado court ruling that removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot.
The Details: The decision was per curiam, meaning it was attributed to the entire court rather than to a specific judge. All nine judges seemed to agree that states may not remove candidates for federal office from their ballots without congressional approval.
Key Quotes: "Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse," reads the opinion.
For Context: The ruling means no other state can remove Trump or any other candidate from a presidential ballot by invoking the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bans people who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office.
How the Media Covered It: Sources across the spectrum covered the news as their top story on Monday. Many framed it as unsurprising.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Trump was wrongly removed from Colorado ballot, US supreme court rulesDonald Trump was wrongly removed from Colorado’s primary ballot last year, the US supreme court has ruled.
The court’s significant decision overturns a 4-3 ruling from the Colorado supreme court that said the former president could not run because he had engaged in insurrection during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The Colorado decision was a novel interpretation of section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bars insurrectionists from holding office.
Enacted after the civil war, the measure says that any member of Congress or officer of the United States who...
From the Center
Supreme Court puts Trump back on Colorado Republican primary ballotThe Supreme Court on Monday tossed out a Colorado court ruling that barred Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot because of a provision in the U.S. Constitution related to people who engage in insurrection.
The unanimous decision said that “States have no power under the Constitution to” enforce a the provision disqualifying people from federal office if they engaged in insurrection, “especially the Presidency.” The ruling said states could disqualify people from holding state offices on those grounds.
The decision in Trump’s favor — which means votes he garners on Tuesday’s ballot will count...
From the Right
Supreme Court orders Trump back on Colorado primary ballot ahead of Super TuesdayThe US Supreme Court ordered former President Donald Trump back on the 2024 primary ballot in Colorado on Monday, the day before the Centennial State and 14 others pick their Republican nominees for president.
The unanimous ruling also overturns disqualification orders handed down by officials and judges in Maine and Illinois in recent weeks.
The unsigned order found that only Congress, and not individual states, can disqualify candidates for federal office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, known colloquially as the Insurrection Clause or the Disqualification Clause.
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