(New York Post) The US Supreme Court ordered former President Donald Trump back on the 2024 primary ballot in Colorado on Monday, the day before the Centennial State and 14 others pick their Republican nominees for president.
The unanimous ruling also overturns disqualification orders handed down by officials and judges in Maine and Illinois in recent weeks.
The unsigned order found that only Congress, not individual states, can disqualify candidates for federal office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, known colloquially as the Insurrection Clause or the Disqualification Clause.
“The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court … cannot stand,” the order read. “All nine Members of the Court agree with that result.”
The 77-year-old ex-president crowed “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” on his Truth Social account minutes after the ruling.
“Today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision underscores the bedrock principles of our democracy and the rule of law,” added Harmeet K. Dhillon, the founder and managing partner of the Dhillon Law Group, which is counsel of record for Trump’s 14th Amendment cases.
“This victory is not just for President Trump but for the integrity of our electoral system and the rights of voters across the country. The attempt to use the 14th Amendment in this manner was a dangerous overreach that, if left unchallenged, could have set a perilous precedent for future election.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, in a statement following the decision, announced Trump was now “an eligible candidate” in the state’s 2024 presidential primary.
During Feb. 8 oral arguments, the majority of the justices had signaled openness to reversing a December decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to kick Trump off the primary ballot.
The Colorado Republican Party appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, while Trump attorneys appealed the decision by Maine’s secretary of state and an Illinois judge to disqualify him.
The Supreme Court made the unusual choice to announce the order while not taking the bench, implying that the justices believed it necessary to redress the move before Super Tuesday.
At least one-third — 854 of 2,429 — of all Republican delegates will be up for grabs during the March 5 contest. Trump has already won 244 delegates, while former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has nabbed 19.
A Dec. 19 ruling by Colorado’s Supreme Court removed Trump from the primary ballot, citing his violation of the insurrection clause of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
The Civil War-era amendment barred former Confederate officers from being elected to Congress if they had engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the US.
Four of the seven Colorado Supreme Court justices ruled that Trump’s actions in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which delayed the certification of former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, constituted insurrection.
But the unprecedented move to use the clause to determine the eligibility of a leading presidential candidate concerned some legal scholars, who argued the Supreme Court should swiftly overturn the decision.
Trump’s attorneys made the same case in oral arguments last month before the high court, while also pointing out that the insurrection clause was meant to be enforced by Congress — reasoning which the justices suggested was sound.
