Supreme Court Reverses Colorado Court’s Decision to Remove Trump From Ballot

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a timely opinion Monday morning, one day ahead of the Republican primaries in Maine and Colorado, reversing the Colorado court’s decision to remove Trump from ballot: “Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse.”

The Democrat-appointed justices on Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in December that former President Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, is ineligible to be president, and cannot therefore appear on the ballot in the state.

In the months since, Maine and Illinois have similarly disqualified the Republican front-runner, prompting Trump’s legal team to file appeals.

This decision will undoubtedly impact efforts in other states by activist groups to disenfranchise their fellow voters and spare President Joe Biden from facing his top rival in the upcoming election.

The Supreme Court noted that Congress is empowered by the Constitution to pass “appropriate legislation” to “enforce” the Fourteenth Amendment but that states enjoy no such power in the case of national elections.

“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” wrote the court. “But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”

“This can hardly come as a surprise, given that the substantive provisions of the Amendment ’embody significant limitations on state authority,'” continued the high court. “Under the Amendment, States cannot abridge privileges or immunities, deprive persons of life, liberty, or property without due process, deny equal protection, or deny male inhabitants the right to vote. … On the other hand, the Fourteenth Amendment grants new power to Congress to enforce the provisions of the Amendment against the States.”

All nine members of the court agreed that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision “cannot stand.”

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