www.washingtonpost.com Open in urlscan Pro
23.51.146.8  Public Scan

URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/04/trump-supreme-court-ballot-voters/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=emai...
Submission: On March 05 via api from BE — Scanned from DE

Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM

<form class="w-100 left" id="registration-form" data-qa="regwall-registration-form-container">
  <div>
    <div class="wpds-c-QqrcX wpds-c-QqrcX-iPJLV-css">
      <div class="wpds-c-iQOSPq"><span role="label" id="radix-0" class="wpds-c-hdyOns wpds-c-iJWmNK">Enter email address</span><input id="registration-email-id" type="text" aria-invalid="false" name="registration-email"
          data-qa="regwall-registration-form-email-input" data-private="true" class="wpds-c-djFMBQ wpds-c-djFMBQ-iPJLV-css" value="" aria-labelledby="radix-0"></div>
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="dn">
    <div class="db mt-xs mb-xs "><span role="label" id="radix-1" class="wpds-c-hdyOns"><span class="db font-xxxs gray-darker pt-xxs pb-xxs gray-dark" style="padding-top: 1px;"><span>By selecting "Start reading," you agree to The Washington Post's
            <a target="_blank" style="color:inherit;" class="underline" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/information/2022/01/01/terms-of-service/">Terms of Service</a> and
            <a target="_blank" style="color:inherit;" class="underline" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>.</span></span></span>
      <div class="db gray-dark relative flex pt-xxs pb-xxs items-start gray-darker"><span role="label" id="radix-2" class="wpds-c-hdyOns wpds-c-jDXwHV"><button type="button" role="checkbox" aria-checked="false" data-state="unchecked" value="on"
            id="mcCheckbox" data-testid="mcCheckbox" class="wpds-c-cqTwYl wpds-c-cqTwYl-bnVAXI-size-125 wpds-c-cqTwYl-kFjMjo-cv wpds-c-cqTwYl-ikKWKCv-css" aria-labelledby="radix-2"></button><input type="checkbox" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"
            value="on" style="transform: translateX(-100%); position: absolute; pointer-events: none; opacity: 0; margin: 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px;"><span class="wpds-c-bFeFXz"><span class="relative db gray-darker" style="padding-top: 2px;"><span
                class="relative db font-xxxs" style="padding-top: 1px;"><span>The Washington Post may use my email address to provide me occasional special offers via email and through other platforms. I can opt out at any
                  time.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
    </div>
  </div>
  <div id="subs-turnstile-hook" class="center dn"></div><button data-qa="regwall-registration-form-cta-button" type="submit"
    class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-hDKJFr-variant-cta wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-density-default wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-icon-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-ikFyhzm-css w-100 mt-sm"><span>Start reading</span></button>
</form>

Text Content

Accessibility statementSkip to main content

Democracy Dies in Darkness
SubscribeSign in



Advertisement


Close
The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness
PoliticsBiden administration The Fix The 202s Polling Democracy in America
Election 2024
PoliticsBiden administration The Fix The 202s Polling Democracy in America
Election 2024
Democracy in America


SUPREME COURT RULING DARKENS CRITICS’ HOPES FOR A JUDICIAL CURB ON TRUMP


THE UNANIMOUS RULING THAT THE FORMER PRESIDENT SHOULD STAY ON THE BALLOT WAS THE
LATEST INDICATION THAT THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS UNLIKELY TO UPEND THE RACE BEFORE
VOTERS HAVE THEIR SAY

By Sarah Ellison
and 
Toluse Olorunnipa
March 4, 2024 at 6:11 p.m. EST

Demonstrators for and against Donald Trump protest outside the United States
Supreme Court on Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The
Washington Post)

Listen
7 min

Share
Comment on this storyComment7571
Add to your saved stories
Save

When 2024 dawned, the presidential race appeared destined to play out as much in
the courts as on the campaign trail.

Former president Donald Trump faced a pair of federal indictments. Two state
cases brought the total criminal charges against him to 91. Challenges to his
ballot eligibility proliferated, with the Supreme Court being asked to weigh in
on whether Trump could even be a candidate.



Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment
newsletter.ArrowRight


Two months later, the federal cases have been slowed to the point where verdicts
before November are considered unlikely. One of the state cases has been
derailed by a sex scandal. The other is due to go to trial later this month, but
is widely seen as the least significant of the bunch.

Story continues below advertisement



And the challenge to Trump’s ballot eligibility was settled decisively Monday,
with the Supreme Court unanimously ruling that states lack the power to
disqualify him.

Advertisement


To anyone hoping that Trump’s efforts to overturn the last election would lead
the judicial system to meaningfully penalize him before the next one, recent
developments have proved sobering.

The Supreme Court on March 4 unanimously overruled a Colorado decision that
would have kept former president Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024. (Video:
Anna Liss-Roy, JM Rieger/The Washington Post, Photo: Scott Muthersbaugh/The
Washington Post)

“The real takeaway is that the courts aren’t going to save us from ourselves,”
said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, “and
that the only surefire way to ensure that an anti-democratic candidate for
president doesn’t succeed is to beat him at the ballot box.”

Story continues below advertisement



While the court had been widely expected to rule in Trump’s favor, the decision
came amid a string of setbacks in efforts to hold Trump accountable for his
efforts to disrupt the transfer of power after the 2020 vote. Trump is also
outpolling President Biden in many head-to-head matchups and continues to
dominate the Republican primary, with the chance to put the intra-party contest
effectively out of reach on Tuesday as 15 states cast ballots.

Advertisement


The court’s 9-0 decision overturned a December ruling from Colorado’s Supreme
Court, which barred Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot under Section 3
of the 14th Amendment. The Civil War-era provision prohibits those who have
taken an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection from holding
office again. The Colorado court cited Trump’s role in the events around the
Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as the basis for its decision.

Follow Election 2024

Follow

Trump is the first former president to have been charged with a crime. He is
facing four separate cases, two of which relate to his efforts to overturn the
2020 election.

Subscribe to the Trump Trials, our weekly newsletter update on Donald Trump's
four criminal cases

All nine justices — the six conservatives plus the three liberals — said an
individual state should not be able to ban a candidate from running for federal
office. They warned of the consequences of a nationwide patchwork in which
candidates were barred in some states but not others.

Advertisement

Story continues below advertisement



“Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos — arriving at
any time or different times, up to and perhaps beyond the inauguration,” the
court said in an unsigned, 13-page opinion.

The push to disqualify Trump under the seldom-used Section 3 had divided
constitutional scholars, with some championing the case and others expressing
doubts about either the legality or the practical impact of keeping Trump from
running — or both.

Mark Graber, a University of Maryland constitutional law scholar who last year
published a book on the history of the 14th Amendment, said the justices
appeared focused on the real-world implications of a ban but that the legal
basis of the decision was thin.

Story continues below advertisement



“The opinion makes sense as a matter of policy,” Graber said.

While it might be “a good idea to have a rule that states cannot disqualify
federal officers or candidates for federal office,” Graber said, there is
nothing in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment that says that “states can
disqualify state officers, but not federal officers.”

Advertisement


J. Michael Luttig, a conservative former U.S. Court of Appeals judge who
co-wrote with Laurence H. Tribe a piece for the Atlantic in August that helped
to galvanize interest in the 14th Amendment as a means to disqualify Trump,
cited the language of the three liberal justices in their concurring opinion,
which critiqued elements of the majority’s decision. The liberals agreed with
the conservatives that states should be prohibited from kicking candidates off
the presidential ballot under Section 3, while disagreeing with the majority
specifying Congress’s role in any disqualification. The standard, Luttig argued,
makes it functionally impossible to disqualify insurrectionists from holding
federal office.

Story continues below advertisement



“The court today decided that no person in the future will ever be disqualified
under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment regardless of whether he or she has
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United
States,” Luttig said. “The decision is stunning in its overreach.”

The impact of Monday’s decision was immediate, effectively nullifying efforts in
states across the country to ban Trump from running. Within hours of the ruling,
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows withdrew her earlier determination that
Trump should be barred from the ballot in her state. The Maine primary is
Tuesday.

Advertisement


In comments shortly after the ruling, Trump praised the court’s decision and
quickly pivoted to another case “of equal importance” before the court, one
reviewing his sweeping claim of immunity from prosecution over actions taken
while president. The Supreme Court agreed last week to review Trump’s arguments
in that matter, setting oral arguments for late April. The decision was a blow
to special counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to move the federal Jan. 6 case quickly
to trial, and cast doubt over whether there will be a verdict before the
November election.

Story continues below advertisement



Trump allies cheered the Monday ruling. “The Supreme Court unanimously showed us
today that we cannot silence the voice of the American people and stop
democracy,” Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, wrote in a post on X.

The court pointedly did not address whether Trump engaged in insurrection. In
Colorado, Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) said that while she welcomed the
clarity the decision would give millions of Americans preparing to vote, she
said she was “disappointed” by the ruling.

Advertisement


“It means that federal oath-breaking candidates will have a pass to run for
office again given the nonfunctioning in Congress,” she said.

Norma Anderson, lead plaintiff in the Colorado case against former president
Donald Trump, did not agree with the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision on March
4. (Video: The Washington Post)

Former Colorado House and Senate majority leader Norma Anderson, a Republican
who was a plaintiff in the case, said the court’s ruling “does not change this
fact: Donald Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States
Constitution.”

Story continues below advertisement



She added that she now believes that “the court cases against Donald Trump do
nothing to hinder him. The thing to do is to get to the ballot box.”

The 91-year-old Republican suing to kick Donald Trump off the ballot

The sentiment was echoed by Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks. In an
appearance on MSNBC, he said that, “we don’t really care,” about the Colorado
decision. “Our focus since day one of launching this campaign has been to defeat
Donald Trump at the ballot box.”

Asked about the case in December, Biden said it was “self-evident” that Trump
was an insurrectionist — though he stopped short of saying how the court should
rule. “Now, whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that
decision,” the president told reporters. “But he certainly supported an
insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero.”

Advertisement

Story continues below advertisement



Still, Biden has framed much of his bid for reelection around the idea that he
is uniquely positioned to protect the nation’s democracy by defeating Trump and
preventing him from returning to the Oval Office. Biden’s aides and allies have
described the prospect of a second Trump term as an existential threat to
Americans’ fundamental freedoms and sense of security — a message they believe
they can deliver more effectively when it becomes clear that neither the courts
nor the Republican primary will keep the former president off the ballot in
November.

Biden and his allies say they are eager for another one-on-one matchup between
the two men that will again offer voters a stark choice.

“I’m the only one who has ever beat him,” Biden told the New Yorker in an
interview published Monday. “And I’ll beat him again.”

Share
7571 Comments



Loading...


Subscribe to comment and get the full experience. Choose your plan →


Advertisement



Advertisement

live updatespoliticsChevronRight

5:42 PM

ANALYSIS: 6 SUPER TUESDAY STATES TO WATCH

5:29 PMNew crypto super PACs face Super Tuesday test
5:00 PMA race to watch: North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District
4:48 PMAnalysis: Does Nikki Haley drop out after Tuesday?
TOP STORIES
Politics
Reporting and analysis from the Hill and the White House
Analysis|The institutions of government aren’t going to protect democracy


Live updates: Supreme Court decides Trump remains on ballot ahead of Super
Tuesday


Analysis|4 takeaways from the Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump and 14th Amendment


Refresh
Try a different topic

Sign in or create a free account to save your preferences
Advertisement


Advertisement

Company
About The Post Newsroom Policies & Standards Diversity & Inclusion Careers Media
& Community Relations WP Creative Group Accessibility Statement Sitemap
Get The Post
Become a Subscriber Gift Subscriptions Mobile & Apps Newsletters & Alerts
Washington Post Live Reprints & Permissions Post Store Books & E-Books Print
Archives (Subscribers Only) Today’s Paper Public Notices Coupons
Contact Us
Contact the Newsroom Contact Customer Care Contact the Opinions Team Advertise
Licensing & Syndication Request a Correction Send a News Tip Report a
Vulnerability
Terms of Use
Digital Products Terms of Sale Print Products Terms of Sale Terms of Service
Privacy Policy Cookie Settings Submissions & Discussion Policy RSS Terms of
Service Ad Choices
washingtonpost.com © 1996-2024 The Washington Post
 * washingtonpost.com
 * © 1996-2024 The Washington Post
 * About The Post
 * Contact the Newsroom
 * Contact Customer Care
 * Request a Correction
 * Send a News Tip
 * Report a Vulnerability
 * Download the Washington Post App
 * Policies & Standards
 * Terms of Service
 * Privacy Policy
 * Cookie Settings
 * Print Products Terms of Sale
 * Digital Products Terms of Sale
 * Submissions & Discussion Policy
 * RSS Terms of Service
 * Ad Choices
 * Coupons

5.12.2






Already have an account? Sign in

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TWO WAYS TO READ THIS ARTICLE:

Create an account or sign in
Free
 * Access this article

Enter email address
By selecting "Start reading," you agree to The Washington Post's Terms of
Service and Privacy Policy.
The Washington Post may use my email address to provide me occasional special
offers via email and through other platforms. I can opt out at any time.

Start reading
Subscribe
€2every 4 weeks
 * Unlimited access to all articles
 * Save stories to read later

Subscribe



WE CARE ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY

We and our 46 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as
unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your
choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate
interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will
be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

If you click “I accept,” in addition to processing data using cookies and
similar technologies for the purposes to the right, you also agree we may
process the profile information you provide and your interactions with our
surveys and other interactive content for personalized advertising.

If you do not accept, we will process cookies and associated data for strictly
necessary purposes and process non-cookie data as set forth in our Privacy
Policy (consistent with law and, if applicable, other choices you have made).


WE AND OUR PARTNERS PROCESS COOKIE DATA TO PROVIDE:

Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Create profiles for
personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising.
Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised
content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different
sources. Develop and improve services. Store and/or access information on a
device. Use limited data to select content. Use limited data to select
advertising. List of Partners (vendors)

I Accept Reject All Show Purposes