Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include reactions from Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as details from the concurring opinions of SCOTUS Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that former President Donald Trump will be allowed to stand in the Colorado presidential primary on Tuesday.
Colorado had the former president removed from its ballot for the primary under a 14th Amendment insurrection clause, citing the Washington D.C. riot of January 6, 2021, in which five people died.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars federal, state and military officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding office again.
The state maintained that Trump’s actions and rhetoric on the day of the riot, urging his supporters to march on the Capitol, constituted insurrection.
Reactions To SCOTUS Ruling
Trump celebrated the ruling on his Truth Social platform, stating, “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” He is expected to speak about the decision at noon from his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a campaign adviser.
The court’s opinion was unanimous, though liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, while concurring, criticized the majority’s wording, NBC News reports. They labeled Trump as an “oathbreaking insurrectionist” in their concurring opinion, highlighting the case’s broader implications for future electoral challenges.
The three justices noted that allowing Trump to be kept off the Colorado ballot would "create a chaotic state-by-state patchwork, at odds with our Nation's federalism principles. That is enough to resolve this case."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., running as a third-party presidential candidate, also commented on the decision, advocating for a fair election. He said on X, “This is the correct outcome. I want to win a fair election — not one in which my competitors are removed through legal maneuvers.”
House Committee Findings
The House Select Committee that investigated the riot in 2021 and 2022 was critical of Trump and following the probe it referred him to the Department of Justice, accusing him of four suspected crimes, including to “incite, assist or aid and comfort an insurrection.”
Trump, however, was never charged with insurrection related to the riots.
Indeed, last month when the court heard oral arguments in Trump’s appeal against Colorado’s disqualification, justices spent more time questioning a state’s authority to ban a candidate from running for office, than debate whether Trump’s involvement in the events of Jan. 6, 2021 constituted an insurrection.
Justice Elena Kagan asked at the hearing: “What's a state doing deciding who other citizens get to vote for president?”
Trump’s lawyer at the hearing, Jonathan Mitchell insisted that “President Trump did not engage in any act that can plausibly be characterized as insurrection.”
He added, referring the 14th Amendment section: “This was a riot. It was not an insurrection. The events were shameful, criminal, violent — all of those things — but did not qualify as insurrection as that term is used in Section 3.”
Super Tuesday Sweep Expected
Including Colorado, 15 primaries will be held on Tuesday and Maine and Illinois were also expected to remove Trump from their ballots on similar grounds to Colorado’s had the Supreme Court’s decision gone in its favor.
Super Tuesday is expected to deliver overwhelming wins across all 15 states and confirm Trump’s victory over rival Republican nominee contender Nikki Haley.
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