WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – It is a case with potentially enormous political explosiveness: The US Supreme Court has dealt with the central question of whether the former US President Donald Trump could have disqualified him from taking part in the primaries for the Republican presidential nomination. At a closely watched hearing on Thursday, Supreme Court justices discussed the arguments from both sides. Trump had turned to the court to overturn a ruling from the state of Colorado that disqualified him from running in the 2021 primary because of his role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump wants to run again for the Republicans in the US presidential election at the beginning of November. Anyone who wants to run as a presidential candidate must prevail in internal party primaries. Plaintiffs have been trying for some time in various states to prevent Trump from participating in the primaries and to have the 77-year-old’s name removed from ballot papers. The judges used the appointment on Thursday to ask a variety of questions about the arguments of both sides. A decision from the Supreme Court is only expected at a later date.
Trump’s lawyer Jonathan Mitchell made clear his demand before the country’s highest court that his client should not be disqualified from the highest office in the state. The so-called insurrection clause in the Constitution applies only to appointed and unelected officials such as presidents, he argued. The clause essentially states that no one may hold a higher office in the state who has previously taken part in an uprising against the state as an official.
Although some examples of such higher offices are given in the passage, the office of president is not explicitly mentioned. Mitchell also said that for the Insurrection Clause to take effect, Congress would first have to pass legislation.
The background to the dispute is the unprecedented attack on the US parliament building almost exactly three years ago: Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Congress met there to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters during a speech with unsubstantiated claims that the election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud.
Based on these events, plaintiffs in various US states have also been trying for some time to have Trump’s name removed from ballot papers for the presidential primaries.
Opposing representative Jason Murray said Trump had clearly disqualified himself by participating in an insurrection. There is no reason to believe that the 14th Amendment does not include the President. The relevant passage in the law is deliberately worded broadly. The states are authorized to ensure that their citizens’ votes are not “wasted” on a candidate who is constitutionally barred from holding office./trö/DP/jha