The US Supreme Court began a high-stakes hearing on Thursday to decide whether Donald Trump should be barred from running for president again.
The question before the nine justices is whether Trump is ineligible to appear on the Republican presidential primary ballot in the state of Colorado because he engaged in an insurrection — the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
It is most consequential election law case to feature in the nation’s highest court since it halted the Florida vote recount in 2000 with Republican George W. Bush narrowly leading Democrat Al Gore.
Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor general of Texas representing Trump, opened the scheduled 80 minutes of oral arguments and said only Congress can disqualify a candidate.
About 20 demonstrators, some carrying signs reading “Trump Is A Traitor” and “Remove Trump,” protested outside the court ahead of the hearing.
Colorado’s Supreme Court, citing the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ruled in December that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, should be barred from appearing on the ballot because of his role on January 6.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars anyone from holding public office if they engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” after once pledging to support and defend the Constitution.
The amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was aimed at preventing supporters of the slave-holding breakaway Confederacy from being elected to Congress or from holding federal positions.
The 77-year-old Trump appealed to the Supreme Court to throw out the Colorado ruling and similar bids in other states to keep him off the ballot.
“The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision is wrong and should be reversed for numerous independent reasons,” Mitchell said, adding that it would “take away the votes of potentially tens of millions of Americans.”