Donald Trump says Supreme Court ruling that he cannot be kicked of presidential ballots 'brings US back together'
4 March 2024, 18:00
Donald Trump has welcomed the US Supreme Court's ruling that he cannot be removed from any presidential election ballots - reversing Colorado's decision to prevent him from standing for election following the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
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Monday's decision is a huge boost to the former president after the court ruled unanimously on the idea that Trump could not be unilaterally removed from the ballot.
The ruling reversed the Colorado Supreme Court decision which determined Trump violated the “insurrectionist clause” and could not serve again as president under section 3 of the Constitution's 14th Amendment.
Mr Trump hailed the ruling, saying it would “go a long way toward bringing our country together, which our country needs."
Discussing the Supreme Court justices, he said: "They worked long, they worked hard, and frankly they worked very quickly on something that will be spoken about 100 years from now and 200 years from now - extremely important.”
Trump still faces four other legal challenges, however - including a federal election subversion case that covers some of the former president's conduct during the January 6 riots.
It comes a day before the Super Tuesday primaries where around a third of all available delegates are up for grabs in primaries and caucuses across the country.
Colorado's Supreme Court, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, had previously decided that the provision, Section 3, could be applied to Trump, who that court found incited the Capitol attack. No court before had applied Section 3 to a presidential candidate.
Some election observers have warned that a ruling requiring congressional action to implement Section 3 could leave the door open to a renewed fight over trying to use the provision to disqualify Trump in the event he wins the election.
In one scenario, a Democratic-controlled Congress could try to reject certifying Trump's election on January 6 2025 under the clause.
The issue then could return to the court, possibly in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.
Both sides had requested fast work by the court, which heard arguments less than a month ago, on February 8. The justices seemed poised then to rule in Trump's favour.
Trump had been kicked off the ballots in Colorado, Maine and Illinois, but all three rulings were on hold awaiting the Supreme Court's decision.
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The case is the court's most direct involvement in a presidential election since Bush v Gore, a decision delivered a quarter of a century ago that effectively handed the 2000 election to Republican George W Bush.
And it is just one of several cases involving Mr Trump directly or that could affect his chances of becoming president again, including a case scheduled for arguments in late April about whether he can be criminally prosecuted on election interference charges, including his role in the January 6 Capitol attack.
The timing of the high court's intervention has raised questions about whether Mr Trump will be tried before the November election.
The arguments in February were the first time the high court had heard a case involving Section 3.
