NPR.org | The U.S. Supreme Court restored Republican front-runner Donald Trump to the Colorado primary ballot, ruling that the state lacked authority to disqualify him after his actions three years ago during the siege on the U.S. Capitol.
The unanimous decision came only weeks after the justices heard oral arguments in the politically sensitive case that put the high court in the middle of the 2024 presidential election. And it comes a week after the court said it would hear arguments next month in a case that seeks to answer whether Trump enjoys broad immunity for his actions on Jan. 6.
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Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed by Trump, wrote separately to say the court did not need to address "the complicated question whether federal legislation is the exclusive vehicle" to enforce the insurrection clause.
"The majority's choice of a different path leaves the remaining justices with a choice of how to respond," she wrote. "In my judgment this is not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency."
Barrett continued: "The Court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a Presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up."
The three liberal-leaning justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote to criticize the majority for deciding "momentous and difficult issues unnecessarily."
Those justices said the majority overreached when it set out ways Section 3 of the 14th Amendment should be enforced, basically creating what they called "a special rule for the insurrection disability."
The ultimate ruling is not much of a surprise following oral argument. Jason Murray, the lawyer for the voters, ran into rough territory at the Supreme Court, where justices across the ideological spectrum tossed difficult questions his way.
"What about the idea that we should think about democracy?" asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by Trump. "Because your position has the effect of disenfranchising voters to a significant degree."
"I think the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States," said Kagan, an Obama appointee.
Chief Justice John Roberts said he could foresee, in the not-too-distant future, a world in which some states would try to boot the Democratic nominee from the ballot, and others would use Section 3 to do the same for the Republican candidate.
"It will come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election," Roberts said. "That's a pretty daunting consequence."
Remnant Editor's Response: Supreme Court rules Colorado not allowed to behave like a third world kleptocracy. So, there's that... MJM
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