The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday in response to an appeal filed by former President Donald Trump that it will review the Colorado Supreme Court decision barring Trump from appearing on the 2024 Republican primary ballot in that state. The court has scheduled oral arguments for Feb. 8.
The Supreme Court’s decision to take the case is the most significant role the nation’s high court has played in a presidential election since the hotly-contested Florida election results in Bush v. Gore during the 2000 election cycle. The outcome could have a wide-ranging impact on how the presidential election plays out over the remainder of this year.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off the 2024 presidential ballot. https://t.co/IboACDg3Ju
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 5, 2024
“The justices made their decision to hear the case with unusual speed,” Reuters reported. “Trump, the frontrunner for his party’s nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election, filed his appeal on Wednesday. The state Republican Party on Dec. 27 also appealed the ruling.”
Trump will remain on the primary ballot in Colorado now that the Supreme Court has agreed to review the case. The high court’s intervention has put the lower court decision on hold. If the Supreme Court justices decide Trump is legally ineligible to seek office in 2024, then any votes cast for him will not be counted.
The unprecedented ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court in December likely ensured the highest court in the nation would take up the question of Trump’s eligibility in the 2024 election. Several other states, in addition to Colorado, have reviewed challenges to bar Trump from the ballot. Last week, the Maine Secretary of State barred Trump from that state’s 2024 ballot.
JUST IN: Trump reacts to Supreme Court taking up Colorado case, “All I want is fair. I fought really hard to get 3 very, very good people in. They're great people, very smart people. And I just hope they're going to be fair because you know, the other side plays the ref.” WATCH pic.twitter.com/YCYoZY8h90
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) January 6, 2024
“President Trump will ultimately prevail in these unconstitutional attempts to steal the election and Make America Great Again,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung in a statement. Trump has never been convicted — nor even charged — with sedition or participating in an insurrection.
After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Colorado case, 27 states filed amicus briefs with the high court urging the justices to keep the former president on the Colorado ballot in 2024 and warning that failure to would throw this year’s election “into chaos.” The states warned that declaring Trump an “insurrectionist” would have “vast consequences.”
