The US Supreme Court has ruled that former US President Donald Trump must be admitted to the Republican primary in Colorado. States do not have the right under the Constitution to exclude candidates from federal office, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday. This particularly applies to the presidency. Trump wrote in a first reaction on his social network: “Great victory for America!!!”
Above all, the court’s decision is a great success for Trump – but no surprise. At a hearing at the beginning of February it was already indicated that the nine judges would decide in his favor.
The verdict was made immediately before the so-called “Super Tuesday” – the court thus provided clarity before the important election day. On Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats will hold party primaries in more than a dozen states – including Colorado. Trump wants to run again for the Republicans in the US presidential election at the beginning of November. Anyone who wants to run as a presidential candidate must prevail in internal party primaries. Plaintiffs have been trying for some time in various states to prevent Trump from participating in the primaries and to have the 77-year-old’s name removed from ballot papers.
The background to the dispute is the unprecedented attack on the US parliament building around three years ago. Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Congress met there to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters during a speech with unsubstantiated claims that the election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud.
Trump’s opponents are of the opinion that Trump should not be allowed to move into the White House again because of his behavior after the 2020 election. They argue with the so-called insurrection clause in the Constitution. It basically means that no one who has previously taken part in an uprising against the state as an official may hold a higher office in the state. Although some examples of such higher offices are given in the passage, the office of president is not explicitly mentioned.
Next Supreme Court decision: Question of the ex-president’s impunity
An explosive verdict in December got the ball rolling. The highest court in the state of Colorado ruled that Trump was disqualified from the Republican primary for the presidential nomination in the state because of his role in the storming of the US Capitol. Trump appealed. The judgment was suspended until the issue was finally resolved. The case ultimately ended up in the highest court in the USA.
The Supreme Court is currently dealing with another case, but it has nothing to do with the question of the ballot paper. The court wants to clarify whether former presidents are protected from prosecution for actions while in office. The background is the criminal trial against Trump in Washington for attempted election fraud. A hearing before the US Supreme Court is scheduled for the end of April.
The Republicans will elect their presidential candidate in mid-July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2,429 delegates meet there. To win, a candidate must gather at least 1,215 delegates behind them. Trump has already won 247 delegates in the primaries in recent weeks, while his only remaining party rival Nikki Haley only won 43.