The US Supreme Court have removed a significant obstacle to former President Donald Trump‘s aspiration to return to the White House, dismissing a Colorado state court’s ruling that could have prevented him from appearing on the ballot due to allegations of insurrection.
The ruling arrives at a critical juncture, on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries, which are anticipated to solidify Trump’s lead in the race for the Republican nomination against President Joe Biden in the upcoming November elections.
This decision marks the most significant election-related case the court has addressed since the controversial halt of the Florida vote recount in the 2000 presidential election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.
The central issue considered by the nine justices was whether Trump’s alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot by his supporters rendered him ineligible for the Republican presidential primary ballot in Colorado.
In a decisive 9-0 vote, the court, which leans conservative, determined that the judgment by the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Trump based on these grounds “cannot stand,” thus ensuring the 77-year-old frontrunner’s placement on the state’s primary ballot.
This case originated from a December ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which, invoking the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, sought to disqualify Trump from the ballot due to his purported role in the Capitol attack.
The attack was an attempt by a mob to stop the certification of Biden’s 2020 election win.
Specifically, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits anyone who has engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding public office.
However, during the two-hour arguments last month, both conservative and liberal justices of the US Supreme Court expressed reservations about allowing individual states to determine the eligibility of presidential candidates for the November ballot.
On Monday, the top court ruled that “responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States.”