Former President Donald Trump warned there would be “big trouble” if the U.S. Supreme Court issued an unfavorable ruling in cases where he is denied access to states’ ballots.
.jpg "Trump Warns Of 'Big Trouble' If Supreme Court Rules Against Ballot Access") |
| Former President Donald Trump leaves the courtroom during a break in the civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization at the New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Dec. 7, 2023. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images) |
The nation’s high court on Jan. 5 agreed to hear a case that stemmed from the Colorado Supreme Court’s earlier ruling that barred President Trump from appearing on the ballot in the state. The judges wrote that he should be blocked due to their interpretation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Section 3, which prohibits candidates who engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion” from running for office.
During a rally on Jan. 5, the former president told a rally in Iowa that he hopes “we get fair treatment because if we don’t, our country’s in big, big trouble. Does everybody understand what I’m saying?”
In their appeal to the high court, his lawyers argued that Colorado’s voters have been disenfranchised under the state Supreme Court’s ruling in December.
“The Colorado Supreme Court decision would unconstitutionally disenfranchise millions of voters in Colorado and likely be used as a template to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters nationwide,” the lawyers wrote in their appeal.
Aside from Colorado, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows unilaterally ruled to block the former president from the ballot, prompting an appeal to the Supreme Court. And like in Colorado, Ms. Bellows argued that he should be barred from appearing on primary and general election ballots because of the 14th Amendment’s clause.
The appeal to the Supreme Court came one day after the president’s legal team filed an appeal against the ruling from Ms. Bellows that Trump was ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot over his role in the Capitol breach. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.
Attorney’s Prediction
Late last week, the former president’s attorney and spokeswoman, Alina Habba, said she believes the Supreme Court will “step up” to reject the ballot decisions because they are “pro-law” and “pro-fairness.”
“I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court. I have faith in them,” Ms. Habba told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “You know, people like Kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through how to get into place, he’ll step up.”
The Trump appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court also follows one from Colorado’s Republican Party. Other legal observers expect the high court will take the case because it concerns unsettled constitutional issues that go to the heart of how the country is governed. At the same time, the 14th Amendment provision has been used so sparingly in American history that the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on it.
Some conservatives have warned that if President Trump is removed, leftist groups will routinely use Section 3 against opponents in unexpected ways.
Also, during his Iowa rally, President Trump warned Democrats are trying to sow public discord about the U.S. Supreme Court because he had appointed three of the high court’s justices.
“They’re saying, ‘Oh, Trump owns the Supreme Court; he owns it. He owns it. If they make a decision for him, it will be terrible. It’ll ruin their reputations,’” President Trump said. “‘He owns the Supreme Court. He put on three judges. He owns the Supreme Court. If they rule in his favor, it will be horrible for them. And we’ll protest at their houses.’”
President Trump has not been charged with or convicted of carrying out an insurrection, although Democrat officials have frequently invoked the term since the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The issue of whether President Trump can be on the ballot is not the only matter related to the former president or Jan. 6 that has reached the high court. The justices last month declined to fast-track a request from special counsel Jack Smith to take up and rule on the former president’s claims that he is immune from prosecution. However, the issue could be back before the court soon, depending on the ruling of a Washington-based appeals court.
Mr. Smith has charged the former president in Florida and Washington in two separate cases, one involving whether he allegedly mishandled classified documents and the other about his activity after the 2020 election. President Trump also faces state charges in New York and Georgia. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges across the four cases.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
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