In the wake of a controversial move by the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Donald Trump from the state's GOP primary ballot, the former president has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision, and according to former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, the panel will almost certainly do so in unanimous fashion, as Newsmax reports.
It was last month that the Colorado high court ruled, in a 4-3 decision, that Trump is ineligible to hold public office due to his conduct related to the unrest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which the justices declared amounted to involvement in an insurrection.
The panel cited Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- a Civil War-era provision that has almost never been used -- to reach that conclusion.
On Wednesday, Trump formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Colorado decision, as the Associated Press explained, setting the stage for a ruling that could impact similar, ongoing legal battles in a host of other states.
In their filing with the high court, Trump's attorneys declared, “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,” and they pointed out that Maine, via a determination by its secretary of state, already followed suit in banning Trump from the primary ballot there.
The U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to accept the case, given that it revolves around issues that have not previously been entertained by the panel and because of its potential impact on the way elections are run in this country.
Whitaker, for his party, explained on Newsmax's American Agenda, that he simply cannot envision a scenario in which the high court -- even with its contingent of liberal justices -- would not overrule the Colorado Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision.
Key among Whitaker's points is that, despite the Colorado Supreme Court's reliance on the so-called “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment, the former president has never been charged -- let alone convicted -- of that particular offense.
“Donald Trump has not been charged with it nor has anybody that participated in the January 6th riot, and you put all that together, and I just can't imagine that one Supreme Court justice, no matter how radical left they might be, is going to [be so biased,” Whitaker said.
The former Trump administration official opined that the Colorado case is ripe for the former president to secure a favorable decision, which would in turn quash efforts elsewhere to prevent his appearance on 2024 ballots.
“I think the Supreme Court could smack it down pretty easily because all of the arguments that the Supreme Court of Colorado got wrong are teed up for the U.S. Supreme Court.” Whitaker said.
The former acting AG continued, “Many people that watched the U.S. Supreme Court are saying, and I agree, that they're going to try to find a way to unanimously reject this Colorado court case and allow President Trump to ultimately be voted for or against by the American people, which is the way it should be.”
Weighing in with a similar, yet nuanced take on the situation this week was George Washington University law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley, who noted that the Colorado Supreme Court was "clever" in the way it structured its decision so as to potentially avoid SCOTUS review of the broader issue. The justices did so, he explained, by allowing Trump's name to remain on the ballot absent a contrary determination from the high court.
Turley went on to express his hope, however, that the high court would quickly take the case and “put an end to this pernicious theory that is deeply destructive to our democratic process,” one he described as “wrong historically...wrong textually,” and one which countless Americans believe runs counter to the democratic principles those on the left insist they are striving to protect.
