Supreme Court: Trump Back on the Ballot

In the Trump v. Anderson case decided on March 4, the United States Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that only Congress, not the states, can determine eligibility for federal office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, overruling attempts by the state of Colorado and other states to block President Donald Trump from the ballot.

The U.S. Constitution establishes that any natural born citizen who is at least 35 years of age and has lived in the country for at least 14 years may run for president. The only exception is if representatives in Congress invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, find that a candidate engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S., and pass legislation to bar that candidate from office.

In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on the case Anderson v. Griswold. It held that Trump’s actions surrounding the Capitol protests on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted engagement in insurrection. Trump was, therefore, ineligible for federal office under the 14th Amendment, and the Colorado secretary of state must exclude him from all ballots within the state.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Colorado’s decision unconstitutional. It noted that that law says only elected representatives in Congress can bar someone from office due to insurrection or rebellion, not four activist judges on the Colorado Supreme Court.

Many Democrats were upset, but the fact that it was a 9-0 decision shows that even liberal justices like Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor understand that the Colorado Supreme Court does not get to prescreen political candidates for federal office like the Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruling was one of the more radical and dangerous of several attempts to keep Trump from the presidency, but “the kingdom’s court” struck it down, leaving it to American voters and their representatives to decide who is eligible to run, who should be nominated, and who should win.