Former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s 2024 front-runner, was kicked off the primary ballot in Colorado Tuesday night after four Democratic-appointed state Supreme Court justices ruled he was unfit for the White House.
It marks the first time in American history that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment – which disqualifies rebels from office – has been used to deem a presidential candidate ineligible for the White House.
Here, The Post delves into the meaning of key results for the 2024 presidential election.
What was the Colorado Supreme Court decision?
Four of the seven justices of the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday night that Trump, 77, participated in rebellion against the United States when his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, delaying the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. .
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday night that the events of January 6, 2021, constituted rebellion and that former President Donald Trump was indeed “involved” in the alleged rebellion. Colorado Judicial Branch
“President Trump has not only incited rebellion,” read the majority opinion.
“Even when the siege at the Capitol was in full swing, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding the Vice President [Mike] Pence refused to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes.
“This action constitutes open, voluntary and direct participation in the rebellion.”
However, the majority also noted that Trump was not convicted of sedition by a jury, and that the Colorado Supreme Court did not have the right to subpoena records or compel witnesses to testify – among other rights granted to criminal defendants.
The justices cited the rarely used “insurrection clause” in the 14th Amendment, which was originally intended to prevent the former Confederacy from gaining federal power. AP
What is the Rebellion Clause?
Often referred to as the Disqualification Clause, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War.
“No person shall be Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken the oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, in support of the Constitution of the United States, shall engage in rebellion or insurrection against the same, or be aided or comfort to his enemies,” the clause states.
“But Congress may by a two-thirds vote of each House, remove such defects.”
There is some debate surrounding that language, such as what exactly constitutes sedition and whether it prohibits a person from running for president.
Trump’s legal team has previously argued that the clause does not directly prohibit anyone from seeking office.
“Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment does not prohibit a person from running for office — it prohibits a person from holding office, and even then, only if Congress chooses not to lift that prohibition,” his team wrote in an October filing.
Can Trump still run for president?
yes. Elections are conducted by individual states, and it is not uncommon for candidates to appear on the ballot in some states but not others.
Technically, Trump is still allowed to be on the Colorado ballot until January 4, 2024, as the state Supreme Court chose to stay its decision until then, pending an expected appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Colorado’s Republican Party is due March 5, 2024, although the state GOP has said it will switch to a caucus system if the ballot ban is upheld.
Has the Rebellion Clause been used before?
Section 3 has been used at least eight times since it took effect, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which helped bring the Colorado case against Trump.
Five of those actions were taken against former Confederates, one of whom – Zebulon Vance – was elected to the Senate from North Carolina after the Civil War and served in that position for 15 years.
A more recent case is Socialist Representative Victor Berger of Wisconsin, who was denied his House seat after a conviction under the Espionage Act in 1919 for opposing US involvement in World War I. His conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1921 and he was elected to Congress for three terms. another time.
Last year, a New Mexico judge removed County Commissioner Couy Griffin from office after he was found guilty of trespassing for his role in the Capitol riots.
How did the Trump campaign respond?
The Trump campaign is expected to appeal the controversial decision to the US Supreme Court.
It said in a statement that it had “full confidence” that the US Supreme Court would quickly side with the former president and “finally put an end to this un-American lawsuit.”
The Trump campaign is expected to appeal the controversial decision to the US Supreme Court. AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s camp also denounced the decision as “undemocratic” and “completely flawed.”
The former president also condemned the decision on his Truth Social platform Wednesday morning, calling it a “sad day in America” and saying, “It’s a shame for our country.”
Was Trump given a hearing?
Judges at the high court held oral arguments earlier this month and read briefs from Trump’s lawyers.
Technically, Section 3 deals with a person’s eligibility to run for office, not whether they have committed a crime.
Trump has yet to be charged with inciting rebellion or insurrection, although allegations that he illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election support 17 of the 91 criminal charges he faces.
He has not yet been convicted in any criminal case.
What will happen on appeal?
It is unclear how the US Supreme Court will rule if it agrees to take the case, but it is dominated by a conservative majority – including three Trump appointees, some of whom have long been skeptical of giving the court powers that are not specifically spelled out in the Constitution.
But Chris Landau, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia, told Fox News Tuesday night that he’s confident the Supreme Court will “take a look” at the Colorado decision and overturn it.
What does this mean for other states looking to get Trump off the ballot?
Voters and advocacy groups have also sued to block Trump from voting in more than a dozen states, but at least seven of them have failed.
Voters and advocacy groups have also sued to block Trump from voting in more than a dozen states for the Jan. 6 riots, but at least seven of them have failed. AP
Courts in New Hampshire and Florida have rejected similar cases on procedural and jurisdictional grounds, with some rulings stating that courts do not have the power to unilaterally disqualify candidates.
In Michigan, an appeals court ruled last week that it would not bar Trump from appearing on the 2024 Republican primary ballot.
In Minnesota, the state Supreme Court also said a state party can put anyone on its primary ballot, but said petitioners can try again in the context of a general election.
Judges in other states are said to be looking into what happened with the Colorado decision before making their decisions.
How could this affect the 2024 election?
Even if the US Supreme Court upholds the decision, it could be irrelevant to the presidential election because Trump does not need to win Colorado and is not expected to win it in the general election.
The state offered just 10 electoral votes of the 270 needed to secure the White House.
It leans Democratic, with President Biden winning the state by more than 13 percentage points in 2020.
Experts say Tuesday’s decision could help Trump return to the Oval Office by emboldening his supporters who have bought into his message that the criminal case against him is unwarranted. AMANDA SABGA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
But experts say Tuesday’s decision could help propel Trump back into the Oval Office by emboldening his supporters who have bought into his message that the criminal case against him is unwarranted.
Following the results, some of his supporters repeated the allegations, saying they were part of a plot to prevent him from once again winning the presidency.
“This is not American, and Democrats are so afraid that President Trump will win on November 5, 2024 that they are illegally trying to remove him from the ballot,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said in a statement.
Some of Trump’s 2024 rivals also spoke out against the decision.
Supporters and even some of the former president’s political enemies argue that the legal action against the former president is part of a plot to prevent him from once again winning the presidency. AFP via Getty Images
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to remove himself from the Colorado primary ballot in response, and called on other candidates to do the same, saying the court’s decision was “what a real attack on democracy looks like.”
Even former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a staunch Trump critic, spoke out against him.
“I do not believe it is good for our country if he is prevented from voting by the courts,” he told voters in New Hampshire.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
