WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to hold the Republican former president accountable for the Capitol riot.
The justices ruled a day before the Super Tuesday primaries that states cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots. That power resides with Congress, the court wrote in an unsigned opinion.
Trump posted on his social media network shortly after the decision was released: “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
![Election 2024 Trump](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/9d/09da5fa5-2c66-5c08-906d-a296ca9f6e71/65e5e4550c3c1.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1133 1700w)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
The outcome ends efforts in Colorado, Illinois, Maine and elsewhere to kick Trump, the front-runner for his party’s nomination, off the ballot because of his attempts to undo his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold expressed disappointment in the court's decision as she acknowledged that "Donald Trump is an eligible candidate on Colorado’s 2024 Presidential Primary.”
Trump’s case was the first at the Supreme Court dealing with a provision of the 14th Amendment that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office again.
Colorado’s Supreme Court, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, had 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 Jan. 6, 2025, under the clause.
The issue then could return to the court, possibly in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.
While all nine justices agreed that Trump should be on the ballot, there was sharp disagreement from the three liberal members of the court and a milder disagreement from conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett that their colleagues went too far in determining what Congress must do to disqualify someone from federal office.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they agreed that allowing the Colorado decision to stand could create a “chaotic state by state patchwork” but said they disagreed with the majority’s finding a disqualification for insurrection can only happen when Congress enacts legislation. “In doing so, the majority shuts the door on other potential means of federal enforcement. We cannot join an opinion that decides momentous and difficult issues unnecessarily, and we therefore concur only in the judgment,” they wrote.
The court did not delve into the politically fraught issue of insurrection in its opinion Monday.
![Election 2024 Trump Insurrection Amendment](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/67/0672c18c-b1c2-5219-8a10-56c53dc793f3/65e5e45092c48.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1133 1700w)
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington. The U.S. Supreme Court has heard a historic case that could decide whether Donald Trump is ineligible for the 2024 ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Both sides had requested fast work by the court, which heard arguments less than a month ago, on Feb. 8. The justices seemed poised then to rule in Trump's favor.
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.
The case is the court’s most direct involvement in a presidential election since Bush v. Gore, a decision delivered a quarter-century ago that effectively handed the 2000 election to Republican George W. Bush. And it’s just one of several cases involving 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 Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The timing of the high court's intervention has raised questions about whether 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. The two-sentence provision, intended to keep some Confederates from holding office again, says that those who violate oaths to support the Constitution are barred from various positions including congressional offices or serving as presidential electors. But it does not specifically mention the presidency.
Conservative and liberal justices questioned the case against Trump. Their main concern was whether Congress must act before states can invoke the 14th Amendment. There also were questions about whether the president is covered by the provision.
The lawyers for Republican and independent voters who sued to remove Trump’s name from the Colorado ballot had argued that there is ample evidence that the events of Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection and that it was incited by Trump, who had exhorted a crowd of his supporters at a rally outside the White House to “fight like hell.” They said it would be absurd to apply Section 3 to everything but the presidency or that Trump is somehow exempt. And the provision needs no enabling legislation, they argued.
Trump’s lawyers mounted several arguments for why the amendment can’t be used to keep him off the ballot. They contended the Jan. 6 riot wasn’t an insurrection and, even if it was, Trump did not go to the Capitol or join the rioters. The wording of the amendment also excludes the presidency and candidates running for president, they said. Even if all those arguments failed, they said, Congress must pass legislation to reinvigorate Section 3.
The case was decided by a court that includes three justices appointed by Trump when he was president. They have considered many Trump-related cases in recent years, declining to embrace his bogus claims of fraud in the 2020 election and refusing to shield tax records from Congress and prosecutors in New York.
The 5-4 decision in Bush v. Gore case more than 23 years ago was the last time the court was so deeply involved in presidential politics. Justice Clarence Thomas is the only member of the court who was on the bench then. Thomas has ignored calls by some Democratic lawmakers to step aside from the Trump case because his wife, Ginni, supported Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results and attended the rally that preceded the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.
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Who’s running for president? See the latest rundown of major 2024 candidates
Donald Trump
![Donald Trump](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a8/6a8044f3-8c7a-5059-87fe-88b825698d13/65bed981b410f.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1133 1700w)
The former president announced his third campaign for the White House on Nov. 15, 2022, at his Mar-a-Lago resort, forcing the party to decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked the U.S. Capitol attack and still dominates his speeches.
The GOP front-runner remains hugely popular in the Republican Party, despite making history as the first president to be impeached twice and inciting the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Referring to himself as America's “most pro-life president," Trump nominated three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years. Sweeping criminal justice reforms he signed into law in 2019 eased mandatory minimum sentences and gave judges more discretion in sentencing.
In March, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be criminally charged, facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a hush-money scheme. Since then, he has been charged with 57 more felonies in three other criminal cases, accused of mishandling and unlawfully retaining classified documents and trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.
His overwhelming win in the lead-off Iowa caucuses signaled his dominant position in the race for the GOP nomination.
Joe Biden
Updated![Joe Biden](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/84/3841dca6-e2e6-532d-99c5-b34a1c2b4e5c/65bed986cd806.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1133 1700w)
President Joe Biden formally announced his reelection campaign on April 25 in a video, asking voters for time to “finish this job."
Biden, the oldest president in American history, would be 86 at the end of a second term, and his age has prompted some of his critics to question whether he can serve effectively. A notable number of Democratic voters indicated they would prefer he not run, though he is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination.
Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America,” plans to run on his record. He spent his first two years as president combating the coronavirus pandemic and pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Updated![Robert F. Kennedy Jr.](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/51/a5189591-a93b-52ef-8882-060cea759d8a/65bed98ecc988.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1134 1700w)
The bestselling author and environmental lawyer announced on Oct. 9 that he was ending his Democratic presidential bid and instead launching an independent run.
A nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, he initially launched a long-shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination on April 19 in Boston. He said in announcing his party switch that he intended to be a spoiler candidate for both Biden and Trump.
Kennedy has emerged as one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement, with public health experts and even members of his own family describing his work as misleading and dangerous. He has also been linked to far-right figures in recent years.
Jill Stein
Updated![Jill Stein](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/ec/8ec5a74e-dedb-5dbe-9286-7891739870f1/65bed991680aa.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1133 1700w)
The environmental activist, whose 2016 third-party presidential bid was blamed by Democrats for helping Trump win the White House, says she is making another run for the nation's highest office.
Jill Stein announced Nov. 9 that she will again run under the Green Party banner. "I'm running for president to offer that choice for the people outside of the failed two-party system,” she said.
She ran against Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 as a Green Party candidate and received about 1% of the vote. Some Democrats said her candidacy siphoned votes away from Clinton, particularly in swing states like Wisconsin.
Cornel West
Updated![Cornel West](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/20/1208af39-313c-5c4c-80e7-2dd3050d2c2f/65bed993a8545.image.jpg?resize=1700%2C1132 1700w)
The progressive activist and scholar announced Oct. 5 that he was ending his bid for the presidency under the Green Party banner and was instead running as an independent.
West wrote on X that he was running as an independent to “end the iron grip of the ruling class and ensure true democracy!” He added, "We need to break the grip of the duopoly and give power to the people.”
He initially announced in June that he would be running as a member of The People’s Party before soon switching to the Green Party.
Who’s dropped out?
Updated![Who’s dropped out?](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/4d/74d27dfd-6516-5228-911a-c37bb2238640/65e8a89f9f616.image.jpg?resize=1588%2C1058 1700w)
Republicans:
- Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
- Former Vice President Mike Pence
- Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina
- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
- Radio show host Larry Elder
- Businessman Perry Johnson
- Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas
- Miami Mayor Francis Suarez
Democrats:
- U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota
- Self-help author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson