In a significant turn for the upcoming presidential election, Donald Trump was removed from the presidential ballots in Colorado and Maine for the Republican primaries. Both states removed him on the basis that the 14th Amendment disqualified him from holding office. The amendment states that any government official who “has engaged in insurrection or rebellion” is barred from office. The Colorado Supreme Court and Maine’s Secretary of State ruled that Trump’s actions connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol qualified. Both states have paused their decisions, pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Colorado’s case.
Other states are also following Colorado’s decision, with Illinois and Massachusetts both considering challenges to Trump’s eligibility. If the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Colorado’s decision, more states are likely to follow. Cases in other states have not gone as far as others. Arizona, California, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington have all rejected Trump’s removal from the ballot, though Oregon’s Supreme Court stated that depending on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, they may try again.
“Not only is it significant for a former president to be removed from a ballot, justified or not,” history teacher Jordan Rhodes said. “It is even more unprecedented in the history of the world for a candidate to be facing the charges. He is not only maintaining his popularity but to seemingly benefiting from it as well.”
Despite ongoing legal troubles for the former president, Trump is the frontrunner in the ongoing Republican primary for U.S. President and won the most recent primary in New Hampshire by over 10 points.
“Since Trump has not been prosecuted or found guilty of any insurrection, the states will most likely have to put him back on the primary ballot,” chemistry teacher Laura Karnafel, advisor to the Young Republicans, said.
As the case proceeds, amicus briefs, documents written by an individual or group not directly involved in the case that offer information advocating for a certain ruling, came in from several parties. Almost 200 Republican lawmakers signed amicus briefs urging the U.S. Supreme Court to turn over Colorado’s decision, while only one Democratic politician submitted a brief at all, Michigan’s Secretary of State. A noteworthy submission however is a former conservative federal judge, who argued for Trump’s disqualification.
“In the big picture, I think that upholding and implementing the insurrection clause of the U.S. Constitution is an important precedent to set,” science teacher Tucker McCord, advisor to the LHS Democrats and Leftists, said. “Politicians need to be held accountable for their actions, and in such a position, a politician’s use of their voice has power and influence that should be treated with the same scrutiny as any action.”
