Supreme Court agrees to examine question of Donald Trump's unfitness

It would be one of the most important legal decisions in the history of American democracy. On Friday, the US Supreme Court agreed to take up the question of Donald Trump's unfitness. I rated Colorado The former US president said “not appropriate” To be registered on the Republican primary list for participating in “an insurrection”. Attack on the Capitol.

The court fixed the hearing on February 8 to hear arguments from both sides. A race against time is underway: Colorado's Republican primary is set for March 5. And the stakes are enormous: The Supreme Court's decision will dictate not only whether Colorado is right, but whether other states can follow suit and declare Donald Trump ineligible under the Constitution's 14th Amendment, as Maine did. A point where there is no consensus among constitutional law experts.

“I hope to get fair treatment,” Donald Trump responded Friday evening in Iowa.

Pour the landscape favorable Donald Trump

In Colorado, the body that declared Donald Trump ineligible By a 4-3 vote, consists of 7 judges appointed by Democratic governors. On the United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, conservatives hold a 6-3 majority, with three justices appointed by Donald Trump (Gorsuch, Kavanagh and Connie Barrett).

The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution was adopted in 1868 after the Civil War. It stipulates that a political, military or judicial officer who has “participated in an insurrection or insurrection” can no longer hold such functions.

The Supreme Court has to decide mainly three things:

• Not explicitly quoted in the text is the US president really “an officer of the United States”: If we don't split hairs, conservative anti-Trump lawyer George Conway believes this is indeed the case. A position designated “Office of the President of the United States.”
• Donald Trump was “participating in a rebellion” in his speech before the attack on the Capitol, in which he called on his supporters to “fight like hell” and “march” on the Capitol. .”
• Is the 14th Amendment “self-executing”: The question is whether it can be invoked directly by a state, or whether a law or a vote of Congress is required to declare a person ineligible.

Uncertainty

At this point, it is difficult to predict which side the Supreme Court will lean on. The Colorado justices were careful to write their decision by endorsing an “original” view of the Constitution dear to conservatives, according to which the text must be interpreted in the context of the 19th-century vision of the Founding Fathers.

The organization's president, John Roberts, has sometimes voted with progressives, and in 2012, Neil Gorsuch (before he was on the Supreme Court) ruled that a state could disqualify a candidate under certain circumstances. Enough to pave the way for a narrow 5-4 majority against Donald Trump.

“In my view, the court will overturn the Colorado decision,” he said. 20 minutes Attorney Brad Moss before the holidays. “Construing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is not about the presidency, or, as Michigan did, it's a political, not a judicial question. »

For the Supreme Court, this is just the beginning. Nine justices could be asked to decide the question of possible judicial immunity between Donald Trump's current trial and his first federal trial, scheduled to begin in early March.

Philip Perry