It has come to light via Deadline that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off state ballots.
Oral arguments in Trump’s appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision excluding him from the state primary ballot have been scheduled for February 8 by the justices.
The justices in Colorado came to the conclusion that Trump was in breach of a 14th Amendment provision that forbids anyone who have taken an oath from holding public office in the event that they had participated in an insurrection.
The Maine secretary of state’s decision to exclude Trump on the state’s ballot is also being contested by Trump’s legal team.
Because of their readiness to hear the case, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court could have a significant impact on how the 2024 presidential contest plays out. In the end, they might also determine whether Trump is shielded from punishment for alleged crimes he committed while in office.
The case is related to Trump’s indictment on allegations that he planned to stay in office until the 2020 election, which resulted in the attack on the Capitol building on January 6.
In the Colorado case, the Supreme Court established a timeline: the Trump attorneys’ briefs were due on January 18, the answers were due on January 31, and the reply briefs were due on February 5.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says that “no person shall be a 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 an 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, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Trump’s team has argued that as president, he was not an “officer of the United States.” They also have claimed that his actions on January 6th were not engaging in an insurrection.
