The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Trump cannot be removed from the ballot under the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
From NPR:
The unanimous decision came only weeks after the justices heard oral arguments in the politically sensitive case that put the high court in the middle of the 2024 presidential election. And it comes a week after the court said it would hear arguments next month in a case that seeks to answer whether Trump enjoys broad immunity for his actions on Jan. 6.
In a post on Truth, his social media platform, Trump called the opinion a “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” And in remarks a short time later, the former president said the high court decision “will go a long way in bringing our country together.”
Six Colorado voters argued that Trump had run afoul of a post-Civil War law that bars people who took an oath to support the Constitution from engaging in an insurrection or rebellion. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has never been used against a presidential candidate, and it’s only been deployed eight times since the 1860s.
That sparse record contributed to the high court’s decision Monday.
“Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse,” the court decision concluded.
The ruling made clear that lawmakers after the Civil War intended the 14th Amendment to expand federal power, at the expense of the states, and that the Constitution “empowers Congress” to determine how to use the “severe” penalty of disqualification.
