Donald Trump can finally rub his hands after a series of legal setbacks. The American Supreme Court unanimously overturned, this Monday, March 4, a decision by the Colorado courts declaring the former president ineligible in this North-West state for his actions during the assault on the Capitol.
This decision comes on the eve of “Super Tuesday” during which 15 states, including Colorado, simultaneously organize their primaries for the presidential election in November. Without qualifying the actions of the outgoing Republican president on January 6, 2021, the nine judges consider that only Congress and not a State is authorized to remove a candidate from the ballot for the presidential election.
Donald Trump, favorite of the Republican primaries, immediately hailed “A great victory for America!!!”, on his network, Truth Social.
Of the thirty states in which ineligibility appeals were brought against him, only two were successful, in Colorado, Maine (northeast), which also votes on Tuesday, and Illinois (north). Several states were nevertheless waiting for the Supreme Court to make a final decision. Legal commentators argued over the validity as well as the political expediency of these procedures. But everyone agreed on the hypothesis that the court with a conservative majority, burned by its controversial 2000 decision giving victory to Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, is keen to avoid being open to suspicion of interference. electoral.
Legal obstacles
During the debates in February, most of the nine judges, regardless of their orientation, were careful not to venture into the minefield of Donald Trump’s actions during the assault on the Capitol. But they emphasized the legal obstacles and potential fallout from upholding Colorado’s decision.
This decision was based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1868, which then targeted supporters of the Southern Confederacy defeated during the Civil War (1861-1865). It excludes from the highest public functions anyone who has engaged in acts of “rebellion” after having taken an oath to defend the Constitution. “Because the Constitution gives Congress, and not the States, the responsibility to enforce Section 3 (of the 14th Amendment) against federal office holders and candidates, we overturn” the Colorado decision, explain the nine judges in their unanimous decision.
The three progressive judges on the one hand, and one conservative judge, on the other, nevertheless wrote separate reasons in support of the Supreme Court’s ruling. The largely unprecedented nature of the case complicated any prediction, but many experts attributed the temptation to the nine judges to find a “loophole” to keep Donald Trump’s name on the ballots.