The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously reversed the Colorado decision to remove Donald Trump from the state's 2024 election ballot.
The "responsibility for enforcing" the 14th Amendment's "insurrection" clause "against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States," the court ruled.
The court said that "the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, on its face, does not affirmatively delegate such a power to the States."
If states were allowed to determine which candidates were eligible for the ballot, it could result in a candidate being "declared ineligible in some States, but not others, based on the same conduct," the justices wrote in the 9-0 ruling.
"The disruption would be all the more acute" if a candidate were found ineligible after people had voted in the election, they also said. "Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos."
The decision strikes down the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that found Trump ineligible for the ballot due to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which contains a clause banning people who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office. The state high court said he violated the amendment through his alleged involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The Supreme Court's decision will also impact Illinois and Maine, which also found Trump ineligible. All state rulings on the matter were on hold until the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the Colorado case.
Chief Justice John Roberts warned of a ballot arms race, with Republican and Democrat secretaries of state rushing to oust candidates of the other party.
Indeed, some Republicans had already suggested that the border chaos or Joe Biden’s dealings with Iran could constitute aid and comfort to an enemy, worthy of being ousted from a ballot.
In Monday’s ruling, the court boiled all those objections down to a more simple principle: only Congress can make these judgments.
“The Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made,” the court said.
Leftist activists had called for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the case over his wife’s support for Trump‘s objections to the 2020 election results.
Justice Thomas rejected those demands and did take part in the ruling.
Trump called it a "big win for America."
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement after the decision: "The United States Supreme Court today made a powerful and unified statement against the brazen, unconstitutional coup by leftists against the constitutional rights of tens of millions of Americans. And, thankfully, a Supreme Court majority seems prepared to stop any shady Biden administration and leftist congressional efforts to overturn a Trump victory based on false allegations of insurrection."
Revolver News noted "there is a major 'hidden' truth that could utterly destroy the Left’s plot to take down Trump. The decision shows us that the U.S. hasn’t fallen into total 'banana republic' territory yet, despite how hard the Left is trying to push us there with this barrage of insane court cases. This is a very big victory for the American people, and that’s precisely how President Trump correctly framed his win."
Leftists, as expected, went into total meltdown mode following the decision.
The Supreme Court has betrayed democracy. Its members including Jackson, Kagan and Sotomayor have proved themselves inept at reading comprehension. And collectively the "court" has shown itself to be corrupt and illegitimate.
It must be dissolved. — Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) March 4, 2024
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is melting down on MSNBC:
“It will be up to the American voters to save our democracy.” pic.twitter.com/PHzZHB3PmT — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 4, 2024
MSNBC shook after Trump ruling pic.twitter.com/sHmUbgReyB
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 4, 2024
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