Supreme Court hears Trump v. Anderson
Arguments concern whether the former president is eligible to appear on Colorado ballots.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - The Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in what’s expected to be an historic case. Trump versus Anderson concerns whether the former president is eligible to appear on the ballot in Colorado, a question that’s been raised by other states.
For over 2 hours of arguments, both liberal and conservative justices voiced skepticism about a ruling from Colorado’s Supreme Court that removed Donald Trump’s name from the election ballot.
Chief Justice John Roberts was among several justices who expressed alarm at the idea of letting individual states decide whether a presidential candidate should be disqualified from an election ballot for engaging in an insurrection.
“I would expect that, you know, a goodly number of states will say, whoever the democratic candidate is, you’re off the ballot. And others for the Republican candidate, you’re off the ballot. It’ll come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election. That’s a pretty daunting consequence.”
The nine justices on the Supreme Court – including three nominated by Trump - also seemed skeptical about whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment - the insurrection clause - was intended to cover the presidency. The clause was added to the Bill of Rights after the Civil War.
The hearing largely focused on constitutional issues. However, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson did ask Jonathan Mitchell - the lawyer representing Donald Trump - whether his client bears culpability for the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
MR. MITCHELL: What we said in our opening brief was President Trump did not engage in any act that can plausibly be characterized as insurrection because he did not engage –
JUSTICE JACKSON: All right. So why would this not be an -- what is your argument that it’s not? Your reply brief says that it wasn’t because, I think, you say, it did not involve an organized attempt to overthrow the government.
MR. MITCHELL: That’s one of many reasons. But, for an insurrection, there needs to be an organized, concerted effort to overthrow the government of the United States through violence. And this riot that occurred --
JUSTICE JACKSON: So your point is that a chaotic effort to overthrow the government is not an insurrection?
Despite security concerns, there were few demonstrators outside the court. Nearly all the protestors held signs suggesting that former president Donald Trump is a traitor.
Donald Trump did not attend oral arguments, but listened in from his home South Florida. “I just finished watching the Supreme Court thing. It was a beautiful thing to watch in many respects. It’s unfortunate that we have to go through a thing like that I consider it to be more election interference by the Democrats.”
The Supreme Court will likely rule on this monumental case quickly. Colorado and Maine - whose Secretary of State removed Trump from their ballot - each have their primaries on March 5th. The Supreme Court made it clear that they want to provide clarity on this issue to every state in the country.
The nation’s highest court may receive another appeal from the former president’s legal team by the close of business Monday, February 12. This appeal concerns whether Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution.
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