On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument on the historic case challenging Donald Trump’s ability to hold office again over his role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. The legal battle centers on an obscure provision of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment — Section 3 — ratified shortly after the Civil War.
The High Court signaled skepticism that Colorado had the power to remove former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot because of his actions trying to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump, who has long denied any wrongdoing, asked the justices to overturn an unprecedented Colorado Supreme Court decision deeming him ineligible to appear on the state’s GOP primary ballot because, it said, he “engaged in insurrection.”
A majority of the justices appeared during the two-hour argument alleging that states do not have a role in deciding whether a presidential candidate can be barred from running under a provision of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment that bars people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. While the justices raised concerns about states reaching different conclusions on whether a candidate could run, several indicated that only Congress could enforce the provision at issue.
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