Trump celebrates SCOTUS ruling on Colorado ballot ban

Update, 12:36 p.m.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling, calling it a win for America in a social media post. The Supreme Court struck down a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that would have kept Trump off the state’s presidential primary ballots.

What exactly did the justices decide? All nine justices agreed that only Congress could enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment against federal officials and candidates. States could enforce the section only against state-level officials and candidates.

But did the justices have different reasons for ruling that? Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in a concurring opinion that they agree “only in the judgment.” Allowing states to bar candidates from their ballots would create a “chaotic state-by-state patchwork,” the three said. But they had an issue with how they reached that decision. Specifically, they took issue with part of the court’s decision stating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment could only be enforced by an act of Congress.

Did anyone else provide any different reasoning? Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in a separate concurring opinion that she wished the court had decided against the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling and nothing more. She noted, however, that the court was seeking to address a constitutional question about how the statute should be enforced, and she applauded that motivation. “Particularly in this circumstance,” she wrote, “writings on the court should turn the national temperature down, not up.”

Initial post, 10:20 a.m.

SCOTUS rules Colorado cannot keep Trump off state ballots

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Colorado could not keep Trump off its state’s Republican primary ballots. The high court’s decision overturns a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court saying that Trump could not appear on the state’s primary ballots over his alleged involvement in the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. The ruling could have nationwide implications as Trump faces numerous other state-level legal challenges making similar arguments. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection to the Jan. 6 riot.

How did the Colorado lawsuit seek to have Trump removed from the ballots? Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that certain individuals who have taken an oath of office and then engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States are prevented from once again holding certain public offices. Both chambers of Congress can remove that disqualified status from an individual with a two-thirds majority vote. The Colorado Supreme Court had found that Trump had engaged in an “insurrection” linked to Jan. 6, 2021.

So what exactly did the court say? The court ruled that the “responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States.”

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about how justices leaned toward keeping Trump on Colorado’s primary ballots during oral arguments last month.