It was a foregone conclusion amongst people who follow politics closely that the Supreme Court was not going to uphold the Colorado ruling that forbade Donald Trump from being on the November 2024 ballot. This is a controversial ruling, nonetheless, because other people not named Trump have been banned from public service for the very same incident, the January 6 Insurrection. Ask Couy Griffin, the head of cowboys for Trump, who wasn’t allowed to remain a county commissioner in New Mexico. He got dinged while his hero skates.
So it’s up to us, we the people, to defeat Trump in 2024. And as stated before this issue went to the Supreme Court, that’s a good thing. Trump should not be on the ballot by any reasonable construction of the 14th Amendment and I totally side with J. Michael Luttig and Laurence Tribe, who said that many months ago. But SCOTUS is known for twisted and tortured logic and so that is what you got today.
Trump, of course, exclaimed BIG WIN FOR AMERICA! but it wasn’t the win he wanted. Not at all. What he sent his lawyers into court to achieve was to clear him of insurrection charges. The court did not do that. That means that Jack Smith’s criminal trial can still proceed once the immunity issue is disposed of.
The other thing that has been predicted is that Trump won’t be found to be immune and that the Supreme Court was spending its political capital wisely, i.e., giving him a “win” on the ballot issue and a “loss” on the far more crucial immunity issue.
And make no mistake, as much as Trump is crowing and spinning this as a big win for himself and MAGA, he knows he’s still in deep. The Supreme Court did the least that it could for him today and he knows that.
The Supreme Court has not only held that states cannot enforce the 14th Amendment for Federal offices,
This case raises the question whether the States, in addition to Congress, may also enforce Section 3. We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.
But it held that Congress must exclude insurrectionists from office.
The respondents nonetheless maintain that States may enforce Section 3 against candidates for federal office. But the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, on its face, does not affirmatively delegate such a power to the States. The terms of the Amendment speak only to enforcement by Congress, which enjoys power to enforce the Amendment through legislation pursuant to Section 5.
Taken in tandem with SCOTUS’ punt on Trump’s immunity bid, this seems like an invitation for Jack Smith to supersede Trump with inciting insurrection. After all, SCOTUS has now upheld the DC Circuit opinion that says there’s no double jeopardy problem with trying someone for something on which they were acquitted after impeachment.
Jack Smith could — today — charge Trump with inciting insurrection in response to this order. It is the one Constitutional means to disqualify him, according to this order.
These last two paragraphs are a big deal. If Trump’s double jeopardy argument is out the window, then Jack Smith can proceed. And once the immunity issue is decided, that is what the special counsel will do. So today is far far from being a gloomy day. This is one small battle lost but a set up for the war to be won.
So where do things go now? A decision on immunity, which should come by the end of the first session in June, and then the January 6 trial can be set. It still may be possible for Trump to be convicted criminally before Election Day.
Timing is the big question here and it is key. What is known at this time has already been reported, which is that by the end of June — or before — SCOTUS could rule on the immunity issue, then Judge Tanya Chutkan can give Trump’s lawyers 88 days to prepare for trial, which would put trial in September. Or before.
In all events, Trump got a bone today, but that’s all he got. He didn’t get a fraction of what he wanted, which was to be cleared of insurrection charges and the gravy would have been if double jeopardy would have been found. It wasn’t. Trump is still screwed.
If I were the Colorado AG, I’d tell the Supreme Court to shove it. If the STATES are the ones in charge of RUNNING elections–including those for Federal offices–then why can’t the states determine who can and can’t be on the ballot? Also, what does this ruling mean for the states’ making determinations for ballot access? If the Green Party selects a Presidential candidate, why does the Party have to go through all sorts of hoops to gain access for the Party AND their Presidential candidate in one state (having to get petitions signed based on an arbitrary number of voters in a previous statewide election, etc) but, in another state, they may just have to file a fee with the Secretary of State?
But, really, what can the Supreme Court do if the Colorado AG tells them “Screw you?” The Court has ZERO actual way to enforce their decisions; basically, to this point, the states and political officials have simply gone along with the Court’s rulings but, for the Court to say the States cannot enforce a Constitutional provision, it’s just beyond absurd.
WOW, Trump and his shotgun mouth are trying to look like a winner once again … He stayed away from any DC showtime because his increasing booing off the stage is driving him insane, for lack of ANY rhetoric that can stymie the cat-calls and booing …
His antiquated old dusty rhetoric is failing him big time, there is NO NEW shit there, he is beginning to slam others with cutesy name-calling and THEY are failing NOT him … His mind is starting to show the mighty whirlpool of incompetence and desperation, he needs to go to prison, (We used to execute people that have done those things that Trump is so proud of).
All the co-conspirators and enablers of the Lincoln assassination, were lined up on a huge gallows and hung publicly, maybe all those enabler Republican A-holes, (some are still screwing with the border and other non-approved and signed solutions for Trump), should ALL be sent to prison, with long terms …
Another thought would be to tack all the costs of cleaning and repairing our beautiful Capitol building onto Trump’s non-existent billions …
If he keeps delaying his pay-off as charged in court, his interest will accrue at about 1 million dollars a pop and that ain’t chicken feed …
It all becomes hilarious to watch him squirm and rant about the un-fairness of his charges, the collection and sales of his properties should start soon, that alone, could throw him into a padded cell somewhere, such a shame really, he should have been made to excel at just about anything in school, nope, nada a damned thing …
I will throw my vote in with the public to slap down this traitor once again. If he manages, with the hydra of a corrupt Supreme Court, the whores known as MSM, Putin’s help, and the abject stupid gullibility of our culture, to steal the power again, then sign me up for the rebellion. I’ll be in the mood, like my uncle who crawled across France shooting nazis to save us from fascism. My uncles who fought are gone. My children are young. I guess it would be my time to step up. I won’t live quietly under a Trump dictatorship. Hear that you Maga scum?
Goody! Now do Greg Abbott and his state’s right to maim mutilate and kill immigrants.