With an unsigned 5-4 decision on March 4, 2024, Republican appointees on the US Supreme Court have trashed the US Constitution. Resorting to some strange and fantasy-based reasoning, the Roberts clique of the court has ignored the plain English of the 14th Amendment, Section 3 and denied the opinion of the Colorado Supreme Court that Donald J. Trump is not eligible to be listed on the presidential primary ballot in Colorado. In doing so, they also have set the stage for a chaotic and emotionally intense presidential campaign.
Drafted and ratified in the aftermath of the nation’s only violent civil conflict, one in which over 700,000 Americans died, the 14th Amendment was designed to punish those who had initiated that war, and to discourage the ambitions of any future tyrants. The idea that the authors of Section 3 intended that its provisions only be activated after additional congressional legislation is not supported by the language of the clause. Nor can anyone having the capacity to see and understand the events of January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol have any doubt as to the involvement of the former president in an insurrection. The wording of the clause is clear:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Equally bogus are the clique’s claims that Section 3 can only be enforced by Federal authorities, or that states cannot bar candidates for Federal office from the state’s ballot. Nothing in the 14th Amendment supports either assertion. Article II of the Constitution, which governs the election of the president, lists only citizenship and age barriers for presidential candidacy, and otherwise leaves it to the states to determine how and which presidential electors are chosen. That’s why there is not uniformity in the number of presidential elector slates on the ballots in the various states.
Generally, states list Republican and Democratic presidential candidates almost automatically, but independent candidates and candidates of lesser parties have to meet different requirements depending upon the state in question. Many other regulations governing participation in presidential elections are determined at the state level. For example, this year the filing fee to participate in the South Carolina Democratic Presidential Primary was $20,000. To participate in the South Carolina Republican Presidential Primary cost the candidate $50,000.
In removing Donald Trump from Colorado’s presidential primary ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court and the state’s secretary of state were only meeting their obligation to uphold their oaths to defend the US Constitution. They were not attempting to keep Trump off the ballots in other states, nor did they assert that authority. The decision as to who is on the state’s ballot is up to each state; just as in the normal election process, each state determines how it casts its electoral vote, winner-take-all or on some proportionate basis (Maine and Nebraska).
The Roberts clique did not have the nerve to accept Trump’s argument that the presidency was not covered by Section 3, nor did the partisan five make any reference to the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that the former president had engaged in an insurrection.
But by insisting that only Federal authorities, Congress specifically, can decide how to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the clique has constructed a convoluted scheme that will probably allow the only president in American history to ever attempt to overturn a legitimate election by force to avoid paying any price for his perfidy. Given the fact that Congress has not passed any statutes that might be considered “enforcement legislation,” any future act would be considered under Section 9 of Article I, ex post facto insofar as Trump is concerned. Therefore, he is free to continue his nefarious quest for re-election right on to November.
And by the manner in which they have interjecting themselves into the judicial process, the Roberts clique has also made it highly unlikely that Trump will have to answer to any of his four indictments, including 91 criminal charges, should he win re-election.
Young people in America today must be wondering if the US Constitution really means anything. The Roberts clique has delivered blow after blow to the individual’s right to vote or to live free of religious intolerance and bigotry. They have seen how cavalier members of the court are regarding personal ethics and conflicts of interest. Now they see that the county’s basic law cannot prevent a partisan court from shielding a president’s betrayal of the public trust
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/us/supreme-court-trump-immunity-trial.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/opinion/supreme-court-trump-colorado-constitution.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/opinion/trump-trials-supreme-court.html
https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candidates