A good day for Trump and his lawyers
The Supreme Court appears poised to hand Donald Trump his first legal victory of the campaign season.
After hearing more than two hours of debate today, the justices signaled they would likely overturn a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that removed Trump from that state's presidential primary under a 157-year-old provision of the 14th Amendment.
The justices seemed generally receptive to the two main points Trump's attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, made in support of reversing the lower court's decision: that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars insurrectionists from holding office to hold office, was not “self-executing” but could only be enforced by a separate act of Congress, and that the provision simply did not apply to presidents.
Significantly, two of the Court's three liberal justices, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined their conservative colleagues in expressing doubts about Colorado's decision.
Judge Kagan expressed concern that by allowing Trump to be removed from the ballot in Colorado, it could set a precedent by giving individual states “extraordinary” power to influence national elections.
Judge Jackson pointed out that the text of the amendment does not explicitly include “president” in the list of offices that can be disqualified for participating in the insurrection. That's because the amendment, she argued, was not initially intended to stop Southern rebels from running for president, but rather to stop them from using their popularity in their home states to seek local offices and run for office again. to gain power by running for Congress.
Trump has mercilessly railed against attempts by several states to disqualify him from the vote, attacking them as attempts to rig the election against him. And during the hearing, some justices worried aloud that allowing the Colorado ruling to stand could unleash broader chaos that could harm American democracy.
For example, Chief Justice John Roberts foresaw the “daunting consequence” that other states could retaliate for Trump's removal from the ballot by attempting to remove Democratic candidates. Justice Samuel Alito echoed these concerns, raising the specter that Colorado's decision could have “uncontrollable consequences.”
But Jason Murray, an attorney for Colorado voters who wanted to stop Trump from running for office, said insurrections — like the insurrection he said Trump was responsible for at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — were so “rare” and “ extraordinary” that he could not imagine a wave of partisan challenges to the 14th Amendment.
Murray also rejected a suggestion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh that excluding Trump from the ballot would harm democracy by effectively disenfranchising people who wanted to vote for him.
“The reason we are here,” Murray countered, “is because President Trump tried to disenfranchise 80 million Americans who voted against him, and the Constitution does not require him to be given another chance.”
Although the judges heard the case at a remarkably accelerated pace, they gave no indication of when they might issue a decision. The Colorado Supreme Court has said its ruling will be stayed pending the higher court's decision and that Trump's name will remain on the ballot for the state's March 5 primary.
The ruling is likely to have a significant ripple effect far beyond Colorado: There have been issues with Trump's eligibility to run for office in at least 35 states.
Immunity claim
The arguments over the 14th Amendment came just days before the Supreme Court is likely to face another crucial question about Trump: whether his claims that he is immune from prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. should not be revised.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington rejected those claims, saying that “citizen Trump,” as the judges called him, was subject to federal criminal law like any other American. As part of its decision, the panel introduced a measure intended to limit Trump's ability to extend his appeal on the immunity issue, a measure he has repeatedly used in an effort to delay his election interference trial until after the elections this fall.
Under the provision, the panel gave Trump until Monday to ask the Supreme Court to pause the underlying case that has been ongoing since December. If he and his lawyers don't do that – or if they take the extra step and request an interim review by the full appeals court – the case will be sent back to the trial judge, Tanya Chutkan.
Judge Chutkan, who has shown every sign of wanting to get the case to trial as soon as possible, would then have the power to restart all hearings and filing deadlines that have been suspended for weeks.
The panel's move was clearly intended to encourage Trump to take his immunity appeal directly to the Supreme Court, allowing the justices to make a momentous decision. Depending on whether they decide to take the case and how quickly they resolve it, Trump could go to trial on the election subversion charges as early as this spring, or not until next year — after the election is decided.
Your questions
We ask readers what they want to know about the Trump cases: the indictment, the proceedings, the key players or whatever. You can submit your question to us by completing this form.
What happens if Trump loses one or more cases and is elected president? Can and will he forgive himself, and what will that lead to? — Magnus Liedholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Alan: If Trump is elected president, he could try to pardon himself for a conviction in one of the two federal cases he faces — although presidential self-pardons have never been tried before and will likely be challenged in court. Trump would not be able to pardon himself for guilty verdicts in the two states' cases. However, there are constitutional principles that may prevent local prosecutors from pursuing criminal charges against a sitting president.
Where is each criminal case?
Trump has been charged in four investigations, and the cases are expected to unfold as he runs for president again. Here you can see what each case stands for.