By Illinois Review
On Monday morning, the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, ruled that that President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States, can remain on the Colorado ballot – in a major blow to liberal activists who sought to interfere with a statewide election and keep the former president off of the primary ballot.
In December, Colorado’s state Supreme Court removed Trump from the primary ballot based on the “insurrection” clause in an unprecedented ruling stating that Trump is disqualified by a provision in the 14th Amendment that prohibits “insurrectionists” from holding public office. The group of judicial activist judges – all appointed by Democratic governors – believed that President Trump led an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 to protest certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s election results.
Just days before New Year’s Eve, Maine became the second state to ban Trump from the primary ballot. Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows – a Democrat, ruled that Trump would be banned from appearing on the ballot for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Formal challenges to remove Trump from primary ballots have been filed in at least 35 states over the last several months, according to the New York Times.
But Monday’s unanimous decision marked a major blow to the anti-Trump liberal activists, and the ruling made it clear that the decision to remove a federal candidate from office under such a provision is not up to the states, but rather Congress, writing,
“The respondents nonetheless maintain that States may enforce Section 3 against candidates for federal office. But the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, on its face, does not affirmatively delegate such a power to the States. The terms of the Amendment speak only to enforcement by Congress, which enjoys power to enforce the Amendment through legislation pursuant to Section 5.”
Moments after the historic legal victory, President Trump posted on his Truth Social page,
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!”
In early January, a group of Illinois voters filed a legal case with the Illinois State Board of Elections to try and block former President Trump from appearing on the primary ballot. The ISBE then suggested, in response to the filing, that the decision on whether or not to keep or remove Trump from the March primary ballot should be left to the courts or the Illinois legislature.
Last week, Cook County Judge Tracie R. Porter – a Chicago traffic court judge, issued a ruling to keep Trump off of the Illinois primary ballot, but today’s U.S Supreme Court decision ends this case and the case pending in Maine.
President Trump continues to dominate the Republican primary election and he’s leading President Joe Biden in key swing states and in national polling – a reality that’s leaving the White House and the Democratic National Committee in panic mode.
The Colorado primary is Tuesday, March 5th.
