The Supreme Court appears poised to reject efforts to keep former President Donald Trump out of the election.
A final decision for Mr. Trump, who leads the Republican presidential race, would end efforts in Colorado, Maine and other states to remove him from the ballot.
Conservative and liberal justices on Thursday questioned whether the former president could be disqualified from re-election for his role in the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol.
Their key concerns related to whether Congress must act before states can use a constitutional provision that was drafted after the Civil War that exempts former officials who have been “engaged in insurrection” from the right to impeachment. to be chosen. There were also questions about whether this constitutional provision could be applied to a President.
Judge Elena Kagan was among the judges who demanded to know “why a state could decide who can be elected President of the United States”.
Eight of the nine justices indicated they were open to at least some of the arguments made by Jonathan Mitchell, Mr. Trump's Supreme Court lawyer. It would be enough for the judges to conclude that even one of these arguments is convincing, for Mr. Trump to win the case.
Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared likely to vote to uphold the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling, which concluded Mr. Trump “engaged in sedition” and is disqualified from being elected. The court of this state ruled that Mr. Trump's name should not appear on the ballots for the Republican primary elections in this state, on March 5.
The justices spent almost no time debating whether Mr. Trump actually “engaged in insurgency” after the 2020 election.
The lawsuit to bar Trump from running was filed by a group of voters in Colorado. Their representative, Jason Murray, pointed to the fact that Mr Trump instigated the attack on the Capitol to prevent a peaceful transfer of power “for the first time in history”.
Attorney Mitchell argued that the Capitol riots were not riots, but even if they were, Mr. Trump did not participate in them.
Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters after hearing the arguments at the Supreme Court, said that “the hearing was beautiful to watch in some respects,” although he complained about the issue being brought up.
“I hope that in this country democracy will continue,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago Florida club.
The judges heard for more than two hours the arguments in the case which is based on point 3 of the 14th amendment of the Constitution.
Chief Justice John Robert raised concerns that such a ruling against Mr. Trump could prompt efforts to exclude other candidates from the election, and “in some cases these efforts could prove successful.”
Mr. Trump's lawyers argued that this constitutional amendment could not be used to strip Mr. Trump of his right to be elected, for a number of reasons.
First, they say that the January 6 riots were not an uprising, but even if they were, he did not participate. Also, according to them, this provision does not apply to presidents and presidential candidates.
They say that even if, on all these grounds, they are wrong, it is up to Congress to decide how this clause of the constitution should be implemented.