The Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that former President Donald Trump cannot be barred from appearing on state presidential ballots because of his connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. In response to the decision, Trump posted on Truth Social calling it a “big win for America.”
The ruling comes in advance of Colorado’s presidential primary election tomorrow.
In a 9-0 decision, the Court reversed the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to prohibit Trump from appearing on the state’s Republican primary ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court had ruled that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment blocks Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot.
Section 3 states that “no person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President… shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
The Supreme Court said in its judgment that the Constitution “makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates,” and thus Colorado cannot enforce Section 3 against Trump.
The case’s plaintiff was Norma Anderson, a Colorado Republican with a lengthy career in both Colorado state House of Representatives and the state Senate. She joined with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington who was suing the state to bar Trump from appearing on the ballot, which Colorado’s Supreme Court agreed to in December 2023. Trump appealed the State Supreme Court’s decision in January.
Trump took to his alternative social media platform, Truth Social, to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision.
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” he posted.
Other elected officials and former elected officials posted on X to congratulate Trump on the victory.
“The biggest meaning of the Supreme Court decision on Colorado is that by 9-0 the Justices concluded that the biggest threat to democracy was not Donald Trump it was the left,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tweeted. “This can become a major political definition for the rest of the campaign and proof positive that the threat from the left is so great even the liberal Justices voted to protect the American people’s right to have candidates they choose.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) chimed in too. He tweeted the decision “is a major win against the attempts of election interference by lawfare against Republicans.”
Rep. Byron Daniels (R-Fla.) also tweeted that SCOTUS unanimously chose “the side of freedom.”
“Colorado’s ruling was an unprecedented display of rank political partisanship at the hands of unelected officials,” Daniels wrote. “It is the right of the American people to vote for the candidate of their choice without interference from radicals.”
Even one of Trump’s rival for the presidency tweeted in support of the decision: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent in the 2024 presidential election, called it “the correct outcome.”
“I want to win a fair election,” Kennedy tweeted. “Not one in which my competitors are removed through legal maneuvers.”
Trump’s main competitor in the 2024 election, President Joe Biden, has yet to make a statement about the Supreme Court decision.