The Supreme Court could decide Monday whether Trump can be barred from the 2024 ballot
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump could learn Monday whether the Supreme Court will let him appear on this year’s ballot as the leading Republican presidential candidate moves closer to his party’s nomination.
The justices are expected to rule on at least one case on Monday, with signs strongly pointing to a resolution of the Colorado case, which threatens to kick Trump off some state ballots over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to make. Any opinions will be posted on the website. court website begins just after 10 a.m. EST.
Trump is challenging a landmark decision by the Colorado Supreme Court that said he is disqualified from running for president again and is ineligible to contest the state’s primaries, which take place on Tuesday.
The resolution of the case on Monday, a day before Super Tuesday contests in 16 states, would remove uncertainty about whether votes for Trump will ultimately count. Both sides had asked the court for expeditious action less than a month ago, on February 8.
The judges then seemed ready to rule in Trump’s favor.
The Colorado court was the first to invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision designed to prevent those “involved in the insurrection” from holding office. Trump has also since been barred from the primary ballot in Illinois and Maine, although both decisions, along with Colorado’s, have been put on hold pending the outcome of the case at the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has never ruled on the provision, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, until now.
The court indicated on Sunday that at least one case will be ruled on Monday, sticking to its practice of not saying which one. But it also deviates from usual practice in some ways, raising expectations that it will be the Trump vote case that will be decided.
Except when the end of term approaches in late June, the court almost always makes decisions on days when the justices are scheduled to sit. But the next scheduled court day is not until March 15. And except during the coronavirus pandemic, when the court was closed, the justices almost always read summaries of their opinions in court. They won’t be there on Monday.
In addition, the justices last week agreed to hear arguments in late April on whether Trump could face criminal charges on allegations of election interference, including his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. the court’s decision to step into the politically charged case, even though there are few precedents to guide it, raises questions about whether Trump will stand trial before the November election.
The former president faces 91 criminal charges in four prosecutions. The only one with a trial date that appears to remain on schedule is his state case in New York, where he is accused of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to a porn actor. That case will be heard on March 25 and the judge has indicated his determination to proceed.