Supreme Court hands Trump victory in Colorado 14th Amendment ballot challenge
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Colorado cannot disqualify former President Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection ban, a historic decision that preserves Trump’s ability to seek a second presidential term.
Monday’s unsigned decision effectively ends the long-shot efforts that aimed to prevent Trump from returning to the White House, handing a monumental legal victory to the former president on the eve of Super Tuesday, when he is poised to close in on clinching the Republican nomination.
Voters and advocacy groups had filed dozens of challenges to Trump’s ballot eligibility in states across the country, claiming his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack triggered his disqualification.
The high court instead sided with Trump by ruling a singular state has no unilateral authority to enforce the 14th Amendment to disqualify federal candidates.
“Former President Trump challenges that decision on several grounds. Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse,” reads the unsigned opinion from the court.