Former President Donald Trump won a major victory at the U.S. Supreme Court Monday when all nine justices ruled unanimously that his name will appear on the Colorado primary ballot, and it has far reaching implications.
Democrats in other states are also disappointed. As noted by Forbes, “Colorado was the first state to kick Trump off the ballot as lawsuits have proliferated across the country challenging his candidacy, with Maine and Illinois following, but the court’s ruling Monday kills those cases, as justices unilaterally found that states cannot remove federal candidates from the ballot.”
According to the unsigned decision, “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.”
Fox News is reporting that Trump spoke from his home at Mar-a-Lago following the high court ruling, blaming President Joe Biden for various legal challenges. During his remarks, Trump asserted, “Essentially, you cannot take somebody out of a race because an opponent would like to have it that way. And it has nothing to do with the fact that it’s the leading candidate, whether it was the leading candidate or a candidate that was well down on the totem pole. You cannot take somebody out of a race.”
Trump threw down the gauntlet, according to Fox, declaring, “I will say that President Biden, number one, stop weaponization. Fight your fight yourself. Don’t use prosecutors and judges to go after your opponent to try and damage your opponent so you can win an election.”
The ruling comes as Rasmussen Reports released the results of a recent poll showing likely voters consider Trump to be a stronger supporter of Israel than Biden, by a 13-point margin. According to Rasmussen, 40 percent of the voters say Trump is a stronger supporter of Israel while 27 percent say Biden is the stronger. Twenty-one percent say both men are about equal in their support.
Rasmussen’s Daily Presidential Tracking poll shows 46 percent of likely voters “strongly disapprove” of Biden’s job performance, while only 21 percent “strongly approve.” This gives Biden a Presidential Approval Index rating of -25.
The Supreme Court ruling included a concurring opinion by the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In their concurrence, the trio observed, “Our Constitution leaves some questions to the States while committing others to the Federal Government. Federalism principles embedded in that constitutional structure decide this case. States cannot use their control over the ballot to ‘undermine the National Government.’”
The unanimous decision was certainly a blow to Democrats who have been trying to keep Trump off the ballot. Many believe such efforts constitute a clear admission that Democrats are worried about the former president returning to the White House in 2025.
Trump—the only president in recent memory to routinely mention protecting the Second Amendment in his speeches—has been literally running away with primary elections in several states. He is expected to do very well in the “Super Tuesday” primary elections in several states.
Biden, meanwhile, continues his efforts to ban so-called “assault weapons.”
His only remaining challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, won a single primary election, in the District of Columbia, receiving nearly 63 percent of the vote, according to Fox News and the Associated Press. As of Monday, Trump had 244 delegates to Haley’s 43, Fox reported. The Super Tuesday primaries are almost certain to push him way ahead in his effort to secure the necessary 1,215 delegates to secure the nomination.
Why is a Trump presidency important to U.S. gun owners? With Trump back in the Oval Office, he will be making federal judicial nominations, including ones to fill any vacancies on the Supreme Court. During his term (2017-2021), Trump filled some 300 federal court vacancies including three on the high court. Those three nominations were largely responsible for the 2022 Bruen ruling, which established reformed guidelines for deciding Second Amendment cases.
