Trump's Colorado appeal may force US Supreme Court to rule on his future ( www.reuters.com )

Former President Donald Trump's appeal of a Colorado ruling barring him from the ballot may force the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in directly on his 2024 election prospects, a case that legal experts said will likely pull its nine justices into a political firestorm.

That state was the first, followed by Maine, to rule that Trump was disqualified from seeking the Republican presidential nomination due to his actions ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, an unprecedented legal decision that the nation's top court could find too pressing to avoid.

"I doubt that any of the justices are pleased that they're being forced into the fray over Donald Trump's future. But it seems to me that the court will have no choice but to face these momentous issues," said attorney Deepak Gupta, who has argued cases before the Supreme Court.

The justices, Gupta said, will have to act with "unusual speed and, hopefully, in a way that does not further divide our deeply divided land. That is a daunting and unenviable task."

chaogomu ,

This presents an interesting problem for Republicans, and by interesting I mean an unwinnable scenario.

See, if the conservative judges put Trump back on the ballot, they will instantly give more ammunition to people already screaming for court reform.

That's the one thing the conservative legal movement fears.

On the other hand, if they don't come up with some excuse to justify putting Trump back on the ballot, the maga mob will declare them traitors and might actually try to kill them.

The trick will be threading that needle, and I don't think it's possible.

Hyperreality ,

I assume the Republican establishment wants to get rid of Trump, but they also want to be able to blame it on the democrats so that it helps their preferred candidate and they don't anger their base.

Weirdly, I think some in the democratic establishment haven't learned their lesson, and want Trump to run. Arguably easier to beat for Biden. Super risky strategy though, given inflation.

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

i agree with other posters.. their best option is throwing it back to the states. they can rule that the states each get to decide on 'is insurrectionist' that is then only removable by 2/3rds of congress, per the constitution. leaves them without having to actually make a decision.

girlfreddy OP ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

NAL but isn't Constitutional law a federal issue the must be ruled on by SCOTUS? Otherwise it seems that SCOTUS would, in effect, be redundant if states can individually rule on constitutional matters.

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