The Supreme Court on Monday declined to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in the 2024 presidential election, rejecting a challenge from Colorado voters who argued that he was prohibited from running because of his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a unanimous decision, the nation’s highest court found that “the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible” for enforcing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection.” Trump had also been barred from the primary ballots in Maine and Illinois based on the amendment.
“This case raises the question whether the States, in addition to Congress, may also enforce Section 3,” the Supreme Court said in its opinion. “We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”
The court issued its decision one day before voters in 15 states head to the polls for Super Tuesday.
The former president took to social media to celebrate the ruling on Monday, calling it a “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
In a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said she was “disappointed” by the decision.
I am disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision stripping states of the authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment for federal candidates. Colorado should be able to bar oath-breaking insurrections from our ballot.
— Jena Griswold (@JenaGriswold) March 4, 2024
The Supreme Court’s ruling came after it heard arguments last month over whether to remove Trump from the ballot.
In December, the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from the state’s primary ballot, saying he engaged in insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
An attorney for the former president, Jonathan Mitchell, argued that Trump was not an “officer of the United States” as defined by the Constitution during his time in office, meaning that the 14th Amendment does not apply. Further, he said his client did not engage in insurrection, calling violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, “a riot.”
“For an insurrection, there needs to be an organized, concerted effort to overthrow the government of the United States through violence,” he said. Later, he added, “The events were shameful, criminal, violent — all of those things, but it did not qualify as insurrection as that term is used in Section 3.”
An attorney representing the Colorado voters who sued to get Trump off the ballot and Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson argued that the state had the authority to remove Trump based on the constitution and state law.
“Despite this law, petitioner contends that Colorado must put him on the ballot because of the possibility there will be a supermajority act of Congress to remove his legal disability,” Stevenson said. “Under this theory, Colorado and every other state would have to indulge this possibility not just for the primary, but through the general election and up to the moment that an ineligible candidate was sworn into office.”
Trump has long been the front-runner in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
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