Washington — The Supreme Court will hold an extraordinary session to decide if former President Donald Trump may be kept off the ballot. The issue will be debated Thursday under a 14th amendment provision that bars previous officeholders who "engaged in insurrection" from attaining power.
Due to his efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, including the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault, the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, and all parties agreed the justices should rule fast.
The battle over Trump's ballot access will see the Supreme Court invoke a constitutional provision for the first time, which is uncommon. The Supreme Court has never reviewed Section 3, the insurrection clause, of the 14th amendment, which dates back to 1868.
With few past court opinions, both sides are using historical indications to support their interpretation of the clause, including its adoption interpretation.
His wife called for the 2020 election results to be overturned and joined the protest before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack. Ginni Thomas has been urged to recuse herself from the Supreme Court's decision on Trump's disqualification.
However, Thomas has dismissed the demands and the lawyers for Colorado voters who filed to remove Trump off the ballot have not requested his recusal. Partisan and ideological divides between parties and their supporters are rarely predictable. Colorado Republican and independent Trump critics coordinated by a leftist public interest group filed the action. Democrats selected all seven Colorado Supreme Court judges, who ruled 4-3 against Trump.
Washington and national Republicans, past Republican attorneys general, and conservative interest organizations have defended Trump. Conservative legal scholars are prominent supporters of disqualifying Trump under Section 3. Trump should be disqualified, according to a friend of the court brief from former Republican governors and lawmakers.
Scholars who studied Section 3's history believe it applies to Trump. However, other academicians disagree. Trump blames President Joe Biden for the cases, although his government has remained out of them and several lawyers say Biden supporters have chastised them for pursuing them.
Meanwhile, Maine's Democratic Secretary of State disqualified Trump, which is on hold until Trump appeals. A retired Republican Illinois Board of Election judge also said Section 3 applied to Trump. (He advised the board to retain Trump on the ballot because the courts should decide.)
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