Why the Supreme Court now rules on Trump’s participation in the primaries – in 5 points “Starsky & Hutch” actor David Soul died

Trump wants to run again for the Republicans in the next American presidential elections in early November. Anyone who wants to run for office as a Republican or Democratic candidate must first win in the party’s internal primaries. Plaintiffs in several states have been trying for some time to prevent Trump from participating in the primaries and have the 77-year-old’s name removed from the ballots.

Now the US Supreme Court is getting involved in the dispute:

That’s what the Supreme Court says

The Supreme Court announced on Friday afternoon (local time) that it would hear a corresponding request from the former US president and current presidential candidate.

Trump had turned to the court to overturn a ruling by the state of Colorado that disqualified him from the 2021 primaries due to his role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Trump’s opponents filed lawsuits across the country to claim that the Republican has forfeited his right to run for president again.

A substantive Supreme Court decision on Colorado’s primaries should also resolve outstanding cases in other states, as plaintiffs’ arguments are the same everywhere.

The case will be heard on February 8 in the capital Washington.

The background – 14th Amendment prohibition on insurrection

The top elections supervisor in the state of Maine recently made a decision similar to the one in Colorado. Efforts to disqualify Trump failed in Michigan and Minnesota. Similar lawsuits are still ongoing elsewhere.

In their lawsuits, Trump’s opponents cite the so-called prohibition on insurrection in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Accordingly, no person may hold a higher office in the state who has previously participated as a civil servant in an insurrection against the state. Although the passage provides some examples of such higher offices, it does not explicitly mention the office of president.

Trump’s lawyers argue in their petition to the Supreme Court that the Colorado court overstepped its authority. The question of presidential eligibility is a matter for the U.S. Congress, not state courts. The constitutional amendment relied on by the plaintiffs does not apply in Trump’s case.

The “dagger in the throat of democracy”

On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters violently stormed the Houses of Parliament in Washington. Congress met there to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had earlier incited his supporters during a speech with baseless claims that the election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud. Five people were killed as a result of the riots.

On the third anniversary of the storming of the US Capitol, President Joe Biden warned of a new presidency of Republican Donald Trump. “This is the first national election since the January 6 insurrection, when a dagger was plunged into the throat of American democracy,” the Democrat said Friday during a campaign rally in the US state of Pennsylvania.

Biden expressed concern about the heated political mood in the country. “Trump and his supporters not only advocate political violence, they laugh at it.”Biden warned.

This decision is expected

During his time in office, Trump shifted the US Supreme Court majority significantly to the right.

Six of the nine justices are now considered conservative. However, the Supreme Court did not always rule in his favor.

In addition to the legal dispute over his participation in the primaries, the Republican also faces several major legal proceedings in the coming months on various criminal charges – including the storming of the Capitol and his efforts to retroactively overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election to make.

This is how it continues

Time is running out. When the case comes before the Supreme Court on February 8, Republican primaries have already taken place in some states. In Colorado and Maine they take place on March 5 – the so-called Super Tuesday. Then there will be voting in a whole series of states. The ballots are printed some time in advance.

For the Democrats, Biden wants to run for a second term. He has no serious internal competition. Among Republicans, Trump is far ahead among internal party presidential candidates, according to surveys. (sda/dpa)