WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court of the United States agreed this Friday to examine former President Donald Trump’s appeal to a ruling by Colorado’s main court that would remove him from the presidential primaries in that state in the western part of the country.
The Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments in the case on February 8.
The justices recognized the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting ballots in presidential primaries across the country. The court agreed to take up a Colorado case stemming from Trump’s alleged role in the events that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court, made up of justices appointed by Democratic governors, banned Trump from appearing on Republican presidential primary ballots in the state due to his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by of his supporters.
He invoked the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, section three of which prohibits any person from holding public office if he or she has participated in an “insurrection or rebellion” after pledging to support and defend Magna Carta.
The amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was intended to prevent supporters of the slaveholding Confederacy from being elected to Congress or holding federal office.
Overturn ruling
Lawyers for Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and leading national polls, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado ruling.
They estimate that “if it stands, it will mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary prevents voters from casting their vote for the main candidate of a major party in the presidential elections.”
According to lawyers, only Congress has this prerogative.
Trump’s lawyers also argue that Section Three of the 14th Amendment does not apply to Trump as a former president, that January 6 was not an “insurrection” and that Trump “has not in any way participated in an insurrection.”
Source: With information from AFP and AP
