In the case concerning whether former President Donald Trump can be disqualified from office due to his attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, the Supreme Court may rule as soon as Monday.
Trump is contesting a landmark ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that declared him ineligible for Tuesday’s state primary and barred from running for president again.
The issue would be resolved on Monday, one day ahead of Super Tuesday contests in sixteen states, eliminating any doubt as to whether votes cast for front-runner Republican Donald Trump will ultimately count. The court, which heard arguments on February 8 less than a month ago, has received requests for expedited work from both sides.
A post-Civil War constitutional provision designed to bar anybody who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office was first invoked by a Colorado court. Since then, Trump has also been prohibited from running for office in Illinois and Maine’s primary elections; however, the outcomes of these rulings, along with Colorado’s, are still unresolved in the Supreme Court case.
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment has never been decided by the Supreme Court.
Following its tradition of not disclosing which case it will decide on Monday, the court signaled on Sunday that at least one will be decided. But, it also deviated in several ways from its custom, raising the likelihood that the Trump ballot case will be decided.
On days when the justices are set to take the bench, the court virtually always makes decisions, with the exception of when the end of the term draws near in late June. Nevertheless, the following court day isn’t until March 15. Also, the judges nearly always read summaries of their conclusions in the courtroom, with the exception of the coronavirus outbreak, when the court was closed. On Monday, they won’t be present.
Any opinions will be posted starting on Monday immediately after 10 a.m. EST on the court’s website.
In a related development, the justices decided last week to hear arguments in late April regarding the possibility of prosecuting Trump criminally for alleged election meddling, which includes his involvement in the attack on the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
It’s unclear if Trump will go to trial before the November election given the court’s decision to intervene in the highly contentious case and the lack of prior precedent to guide it.
In four prosecutions, the former president is charged with 91 crimes. Out of all of those, his state case in New York, where he is accused of fabricating company records in relation to payments of hush money to a porn star, is the only one that appears certain to proceed to trial. The judge has indicated that he is determined to move on with the case, and the trial is scheduled for March 25.
(AP)
