Supreme Court Takes Up Trump Ballot Disqualification Case

This article originally appeared on The Epoch Times and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Catherine Yang

The U.S. Supreme Court accepted a petition for immediate review regarding a Colorado Supreme Court decision to strike former President Donald Trump from the ballot.

“The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted,” reads the procedural order.

Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 8, 2024.

Petitioners’ and amicus briefs are due by Jan. 18, and respondents’ and amicus briefs are due by Jan. 31, with any reply briefs due by Feb. 5.

The Colorado Supreme Court had disqualified President Trump as a candidate on Dec. 19 in an order that left little chance for the actual removal of his name from the ballot.

On Dec. 27, the Colorado GOP filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking three separate questions regarding the application of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and political parties’ First Amendment rights to primary their candidate of choice.

On Jan. 3, President Trump filed a separate petition with a simpler question: Did the Colorado Supreme Court err in its ruling?

The Supreme Court has taken up President Trump’s petition, and has yet to accept to reject the Colorado GOP’s petition.

‘Chaos’

Colorado was the first state to disqualify President Trump, and the first state to hold hearings regarding the merits of a Section 3 challenge at all.

The legal theory that President Trump can be disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment rests on the premise that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, constituted an insurrection, and that President Trump actively participated in or instigated it. It also assumes that individual state courts at various levels have the authority to adjudicate the eligibility of a presidential candidate under Section 3.

There have been at least 60 of these challenges across the country in recent months, according to President Trump’s attorneys.

However, the majority of these challenges have been dismissed for a wide range of reasons, with several courts citing lack of jurisdiction.

Read the full story at The Epoch Times.