In a unanimous 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court declared that Colorado cannot remove Donald Trump from the ballot.
“This case raises the question whether the States, in addition to Congress, may also enforce Section 3,” the decision reads. “We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”
It adds that “nothing in the Constitution delegates to the States any power to enforce Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates.”
The state of Colorado prohibited Trump from being on the ballot over Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the “insurrection clause,” although Trump was never charged with engaging in an “insurrection” following the events of January 6, 2021.
Following the decision, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson issued a concurring opinion in the decision, writing, “Although only an individual State’s action is at issue here, the majority opines on which federal actors can enforce Section 3, and how they must do so. The majority announces that a disqualification for insurrection can occur only when Congress enacts a particular kind of legislation pursuant to Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
They believed the majority “goes beyond the necessities of the case,” however.
“Today, the majority goes beyond the necessities of this case to limit how Section 3 can bar an oathbreaking insurrectionist from becoming President. Although we agree that Colorado cannot enforce Section 3, we protest the majority’s effort to use this case to define the limits of federal enforcement of that provision,” they wrote. “Because we would decide only the issue before us, we concur only in the judgment.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote, “In my judgment, this is not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency. The Court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a Presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up.”
“For present purposes, our differences are far less important than our unanimity: All nine Justices agree on the outcome of this case,” she continued. “That is the message Americans should take home.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that she is “disappointed” in the ruling.
“I am disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision stripping states of the authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment for federal candidates,” she wrote on X. “Colorado should be able to bar oath-breaking insurrections from our ballot.”
I am disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision stripping states of the authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment for federal candidates. Colorado should be able to bar oath-breaking insurrections from our ballot.
— Jena Griswold (@JenaGriswold) March 4, 2024
